[Douglas256]

I thought I had cured the upgrade bug a year ago when I bought my HeadRoom Max and Cardas Golden Reference ICs . . . but, I'm getting the itch to upgrade my source.

Right now, I'm using a Pioneer Elite DV-37 which is a surprisingly good sounding DVD player. When I tried it out at my local Hi-Fi store, it sounded as good as the low-end Meridian (well, at least it did though my Cosmic).

As I see it, I have two upgrade paths: a DAC or a CDP. Either way, I can only justify $1-3K (I'm a graduate student, after all). If you think a DAC is the way to go, which ones would you suggest? If you think a CDP is the way to go, which ones of those would you suggest? Either way, I'm hoping I can find a local store with one in stock that I can AB with my current setup.

I really don't know how to describe my perfect sounding source . . . I just want something that will move me to the point where a single tear will tricle down my cheek. Since that isn't very helpful, I suppose you could say I like my sound clean with solid but not pronounced bass.

Thank you for all your suggestions.

Douglas

 

[fewtch]

Try a good turntable and phono stage, maybe?

Dunno about $1k (particularly if you add the cost of a decent cartridge), but imho $3k would be challenging your digital source easily, and maybe providing that raw emotion you've been missing. "Emotion amidst 1's and 0's, seek not" says Yoda...

 

[Douglas256]

While I don't have anything against LPs, I can't afford to get even a quarter of my music collection in LPs (if they would even be available). Besides, it's not as if my current set-up hasn't moved me at the primitive level -- I'm just feeling the upgrade bug. That, and I know I won't have this much disposable income again for another 4-6 years.

 

[Guyferd]

Electrocompaniet EMC-1 ?

 

[markl]

Check into the Sony SCD-555ES Hot Rod (at roughly $1200-$1400, it's a steal):
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=36751

You will be hard-pressed to do better for the money. It's a long thread but plenty of info there on this extraordinary player. Cheers.

 

[Douglas256]

I went down to my local Hi-Fi store today and AB-ed their MF A3^24 DAC with my current setup and couldn't hear any appreciable difference (the bass on my DV-37 was a little fuller than the MF, but that was it). When I toggled the input switch on the back of my Max, the sales person actually liked the sound coming straight out of my player over his own DAC!

When you AB $1K+ players, do you hear any significant differences?

Should I just give up on trying to upgrade for less than $3K? Or, can you think of something on the used market that will make me go . . . wow, I had no idea what I was missing?