Wow! It's been quite awhile on this thread but here goes: I have now moved the Thingee to my desktop pc and am using it's headphone out for my flac files and it sounds very good! Clean, natural, detailed and musical just like it was on my 2 channel system. Definitely comparable to the Bryston...

BLACKBERRY IS NOT GOING OUT OF BUSINESS! DO NOT MIS-INFORM OTHERS!   Blackberry is alive and well to be exact. If anything with the leadership of John Chen, they are on a comeback. With the introduction of the Passport (a powerhouse smartphone for productivity and not fun & games) and most...

harpua,   You should try Potplayer+Reclock for your audio. In my experience, it blows away Foobar2000 sound quality-wise. Cheers!

I agree with Marantz, I have been using it for the last 3 days and it is better than KMplayer in my system as well. I had tried to install XXhighend but just couldn't get it to work and turned to Potplayer+Reclock. User interface is relatively simple but easy to use. Sound quality is the best so...

I think the internal Bryston DAC is very good. It is a very neutral, transparent and very natural/real sounding DAC. I enjoy mine immensely although the DAC in my Blue Circle Thingee is bit more forgiving on some material. Good listening to you!   PS: Before I forget, try different digital...

The term "high end" is relative. To get the best audio quality out of a notebook one must bypass the internal soundcard which is compromised by its components and its interaction with the rest of the circuits. Thus the use of a USB DAC is required. Nowadays you have many to choose from...

I may be too late but I would suggest looking at the following Canadian DACs: 1.a NAD C565bee which is their latest flagship CD player using the Sabre chipset and can allow one more digital source via its optical input 2.a Grant Fidelity Tube DAC-09 3.a Blue Circle BC507/509    As for...

Thanks Upstate Guy! Cheers!   I forgot to mention an important aspect of the Thingee which may have a detrimental effect on the sound of its DAC. Its analog output level is quite low and thus your preamp must have enough gain to compensate for it. Otherwise, the sonics will suffer. 

Here is my take on the BC Thingee: I originally bought it primarily to convert from usb to spdif and it does this very well. However, I also played it as a stand alone DAC and surprisingly it is very good! So good that I am using it as a DAC rather than as a converter for my computer music...

The Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1 tubed output cd player should be on your shortlist. You can still get a Stereophile review online. I have had mine for ~2 years and have no intention of replacing it. With some tube rolling, you can fine tune the sonic characteristics to your liking. Good luck!