Thank you very much 'Sampajanna' for your very interesting and informative post. Very much appreciated.I had a Dave/Mscaler w/ 2X SJ PSU for years (Wavestorm cables are also a must). It is excellent. I compared to many Highend dacs right here and it was as good, slightly better or slightly worse than many (even when worse it was marginal and not worth the hassle and money to switch). For me, in my system, that all changed when I got a Lampi in house to hear. It made my friend cry. It was the biggest upgrade in my system to date. I would still not hesitate to recommend Dave, especially with PSU and Storm cables. But the Pacific or Horizon are both major upgrades and when you add the cost of all the cables and power supplies, you are close if not at a used Pacific….
Not a huge CH fan, TBH. I agree with Caesar…. I have heard the Playback, though and that would be my other choice if not Lampi. The MPD8 is epic, especially when paired with the transport/streamer using their Plink cable. To get to or beyond these choices, you would have to jump up in price significantly….
Yes, agree the High Fidelity Wavestorm digital BNC cables are definitely a must for the Chord DAVE & M Scaler / Blu combo.
I have heard a TOTL Lampizator DAC on two separate occasions (a Golden Gate some yeard back and a Pacific this year) at a UK Hifi Show linked to a speaker system with electrostatic speakers. It sounded amazing, in fact one of the best sounding systems of both shows. It didn't sound digital at all, more like analogue with a lot more micro details.
Just thinking though a tube DAC linked to a tube pre-amp in my EF1000 maybe overkill with tubes. Only guessing this. Would be good to hear a Lampi DAC conencted to my EF1000 and Susvara headphone set-up.
Never heard of 'Playback' equipment. Will do some research on Google.