Best Digital Source That Money Can Buy?

A response to my 8-30-08 post appeared this morning then promptly vanished.

To that poster:

1. I agree with Newly in that the dCS Scarlatti DAC is a part of the best digital source I have ever heard - nothing more, nothing less.

2. I have not directly compared dCS Scarlatti gear to your CDP, nor does the original poster set such a condition. He did ask that stock gear only be mentioned and I am at fault for mentioning my modded Lector CDT. FWIW, I alternate listening with a stock dCS Verdi transport and use a dCS Scarlatti master clock in that configuration. The sound is equally, maybe even more sublime - IMHO, as good as it gets absent a dCS Scarlatti transport.

3. My comparisons, fwiw, are to my current source, but with a dCS Elgar DAC and to an earlier source I owned for years, which consisted of an Ensemble Dirondo transport >> Stealth varidig Sextet BNC cable >> an Audio Note DAC 4.1x Signature DAC. Both were immensely satisfying digital sources and quite costly.

4. I needn't be held to some comparative standard, yours or any others', to express an opinion. You know very well that, even if I directly a/b'd my source with your CDP, our systems (including rooms) are completely different otherwise - making my opinion of said comparison just as subjective as the opinion I actually have offered and, arguably, less biased than yours since you "have a horse in the race".

5. My 8-30-08 post had zero to do with Newly's possibly sarcastic reference to your "horse". For all I know it sings with angels' voices but, frankly, that's irrelevant to me.

Jb0194 said"

"I agree with Newly" and
"I needn't be held to some comparative standard, yours or any others', to express an opinion. "

Newly said:
"Without any doubt the best today available digital front is dCS Scarlatti, forget Payback designs, EMM labs, Zanden and others toys,"

Jb0194 is entitled to all the baseless claims he desires to make. I just think that he shouldn't be surprised if someone calls him on them.

Claiming that the Scarlatti is better than the Playback Designs, Emm and Zanden without actually comparing is not an "opinion", it's a bold faced (fill in the blank).

Dave

hi mikelavigne:

why did your friend prefer the playback designs, given the amr's flexibility for changes in tubes and sampling rate ?

that is, in what respect did he find the playback designs a superior unit ?

Mr. Tennis, rather than post hearsay, i'll e-mail you his e-mail address and you can ask him directly. we did not discuss any tube rolling or different AMR set-up choices. he typically calls me on the phone and it may take awhile to find his e-mail address.

i will e-mail this to you later today.

Mrtennis, I haven't compared to the PD to the AMR, so I can't comment on that, but many of us would consider the "amr's flexibility for changes in tubes and sampling rate" to be negative. If changing a tube can improve the sound, then that implies a weakness in the designer's unit as distributed.

I think those two things (circuit design and sampling rate) are the designer's responsibility and would hope that I couldn't improve upon the designer's choices.

BTW, I never have figured out why people put tubes in DACs. Is there any technical advantage to doing this?

Dave