Regg

No comparisons with the Ayre yet?

All things being relative, which DAC would you say is more dynamic, natural, smoother? A senseless question maybe, but I was just curious...\

I'm not sure that all Zhaolu mods are created equal, but the one I mentioned above was modified by recording engineer Da-Hong Seetoo, who said of the Zhaolu: "the original power supply was too small and too close to the circuit", and that the Oritek mod "had no head room and distorts a lot". I'm not certain of what his specific mods were, but I recall that the unit he upgraded had a huge external PS and sounded very good to me. I was not hearing it on a familiar system, however. Haven't had the privilege of hearing a Filburt modded SF DAC, but the positive remarks around here are very intriguing. Do they ever come up for sale on Ebay or A'gon?

I certainly would like to have a Mac but had to take the cheap way out with a small MSI laptop instead (XP--Foobar or J.River--ASIO4ALL--USB--yadda-yadda). Don't want to skimp out on the DAC though. The DIY route certainly seems like a satisfying way to go; too bad I don't have the skillz...there's a guy named DaHong in NY who modified a Zhaolu and made a huge 100w PS for it...sounding very impressive next to a Weiss and Lector CDP. I don't think it was a cheap mod though....

I've owned the VDA2+VAC1 for about a year now, and there are two criticisms from The Great DAC Search thread that I agree with: that the rendering of more complex passages can be somewhat "messy", and a little 'raw' sounding from my perspective; and that there is a bit of "shrillness" audible in the top end at times. It doesn't help that my speakers are not very forgiving either. I know the VDA2 is a good DAC--it wiped the floor with the OMZ DAC I owned--and I may be nit-picking a bit--but I was wondering if there is anything else at this price point (used or otherwise) that would be a better selection for my system. Admittedly I haven't compared the VDA2 to much else. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. TIA