Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Thank you Hifial. I am certainly not opposed to trying something that only costs me $175, especially if it is made for USB connections, which is how I connect my server to my DAC. I will look into this further.

Bill K, the LaScala is here and making beautiful music. Very early impressions are;
1. Good drive, throughout most of the frequency range and particularly in the mid-bass,
2. The treble is clear, smooth, and is just to the good side of "reticent,"
3. Absolutely beautiful midrange with spot-on tonality, not just because it is smooth sounding but because it sounds real, like you are at a show, or like the singer is in your room, and
4. A touch of softness and maybe a slight lack of focus/definition in the bass...

This is a DAC that will be killer for those who value midrange warmth and bloom....sounding a bit like analogue. This DAC will be a friend to those many less than stellar quality recordings out there.

These are first impressions after only a few hours of warm-up, although the "demo" unit came to me already burned in. I am listening through the SMc Signature DNA-2 LAE amp and associated (almost-VRE) preamp, and will switch to the AI Atsah amps this weekend. I can certainly understand why Srajan and Darko liked this DAC so much. More to come.

Mitch2, sounds very promising! I currently run the Bricasti M1 DAC and would be curious how the LaScala would compare. From your description I would suspect that the M1 may have better defined bass, but the midrange of the LaScala as you describe it sounds very seductive. I look forward to your further comments, thanks again and enjoy it!

DCS I 2nd or third that!!!

OK, I finally heard the Regen with Corning cable on my B7 and can say that my experience mimics this post at CompAudiophile.

DSD128 was already amazing has gone up a notch. Absolutely incredible.Ridiculous!
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Originally Posted by EuroDriver

It took only 10 seconds for our jaws to drop. We thought the SQ was superb before putting the Regen in, but the Regen's effect was even greater than our high expectations. It's one of those cases where you have to hear it to believe it

The difference the Regen made was about 1.5 times the SQ difference of going from DSD128 to DSD 256 on the Exasound with HQP doing PCM to DSD. The Lampi b7 that Geoff received last wheel seems only to go up to DSD128, but with the Regen I am hearing details, realism, texture, and fine timbre that I simply did not believe existed on well known tracks.

IMHO, the Regen and the Corning USB compliment each other very nicely, their sonic effects being different and beneficially additive.

Next week at Munich High End we will be using the Regen ( powered by my JS-2) and seeing if anyone can catch us in sound quality ;-)

May be the hype helped, but Regen is certainly one of the biggest hardware SQ upgrades I have heard in a long long time.

Hats off to John and Alex for coming up with a USB sound quality game changer for the Lampi B7. Next week we will try Regen with the Exa E22, and with an Antelope Zodiac Platinum

downstream from the Lampi were Audiopax pre, Audiopax mono blocs, and Avantgarde Duo Omegas​