Is berkeley dac as good as absolute sound review?

I have it and love it and the review is very accurate. It really does it right. I have an Esoteric X03SE and using it as a transport into the berkeley for HDCD is a revelation. I don't think the review mentioned how well an HDCD encoder it is.

And, the review is spot on when it says you really have to feed the berkeley hi res signals to hear what it does. True 24 bit sounds spectacular. Check one out. Used up for $3,500 or so. Can't lose.

Whether the reviewer paid one-tenth, one-fifth, one-half or full list price for the gear makes a big difference to the reviewer’s pocketbook. If you don’t believe me, ask him. And you are right, hard to separate the pocketbook from the endorsement.

He would not spend a $100 if he did not like it, of course he might give a better review to a fella offering a steep discount, other than Atkinson's measurements and "between the lines" I take all reviews with a grain of salt. But as far as the DAC, there a lot of evidence that it is very good indeed.

Could be a nice Dac to the reviewer ears, but you need to try it before buying. :)

Of course it matters what they paid for a unit, which is often 50% of retail, a bit less than a dealer. There are items I don't like at $10k, but at $5k they are a steal! So, the "I bought the unit" only means they know a deal when they see it, not that it is the best. They really cannot go wrong financially by buying a piece at half price, particularly one they are raving about.