I see I was mistaken. Thank you for the explanation. This is interesting. So it is not the dac that is being bombarded but rather the clock in the pc. With this bombarding in the pc, would it be possible for the clock to produce extra errors or maybe I should say noise on the clock? I...

  And yet isn't it ironic that to this day some of the best sounding dacs date back to the 90's?  By the way, I never said anything about a cd player being good at jitter. I never even said anything about jitter to begin with so I'm not sure where you conjured that up. Back to dac talk. Weren't...

  It is a matter of perspective. I view your Marantz as an SACD player that is capable of playing cd's. Other's may view it as a cd player, but that is not its greatest strength. As far as the differences go, the transport mech would be the main difference. SACD spins at a higher speed than...

  I should also apologize and clarify I'm talking about used gear which had an msrp of $1k and can now be had for a fraction of that. Let's keep things simple and just talk pure redbook. I'm curious, have you tried any mid-fi cd players used by itself, not as a transport. And have you compared...

  I do not own a laptop. But for that comparison, why limit yourself to a cd player? Why not use a high quality cd transport instead?

  I have no experience with SACD so I can't say anything for sure. You mention having coax in on the player. Are you using the macbook pro as transport into the player and comparing that to the player used by itself? I remember reading that the even the NA-11S1 is lacking in redbook playback...

  Your post is confusing. Where did I mention anything about SACD? That is not what I'm talking about here.     Computers aren't made for the sole purpose of reproducing music, that is a fact. They are a rat's nest of noise. It has always been my opinion that a mid-fi cd player will sound...

+1

You're right it's not the rule. There are always exceptions. For example, a $10k music server should beat out a $1k cd player. I can't remember many people raving about the PWT and I've never heard a setup with one so I can't comment. However, you stated "you don't hear all the dreaded nasties...

  IMO a computer is a horrible source or even transport period. It's just not made for that purpose in mind (laptops are even worse yet). In a typical pc, you've got the cpu and gpu emitting frequencies in the ghz with no shielding in sight. The wiring going to the front panel usb port is...

  Can't agree at all. I find it interesting how people who prefer the Levinson sound find the mbl to sound colored. Your comments seriously make me wonder if you had something setup wrong or if you had a faulty unit. You'll not find one review of anything from mbl reflecting those comments. In...

  Sadly, no I haven't came across any other delta sigma dacs that have similar characteristics as R2R dacs in that price range. The only other that springs to mind is DCS Elgar but they are a bit more than $3k used. Then again I'm not sure if their ring dac would qualify as a delta sigma...

  As good as the Theta Gen Va was, it was soundly beat by an mbl 1511D (which is a Delta Sigma design) in my setup. I highly recommend an audition of an mbl if you get a chance. It certainly changed my thoughts on Delta Sigma dacs. Not only that but it sadly destroyed even my vinyl setup. Just...

The Steeplechase gets my vote. But if you look around you can probably find a used Paradesea which will be cheaper than the Steeplechase. Whatever you decide on, you can always experiment with different tubes as well.

They usually cut a lot of corners in receiver dacs. Judging from the design of the others, I'd say they would all sound about the same.