Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC RS - Impressions and Information

[tranz]

Would be interested to see it stack up against a pure ladder DAC like the MSB Analog.

[tranz]

For the time being, almost all my listening will be done from CD rips using my MacBook Air and Amarra, with a few downloads from HDTrax, etc. On my current Puccini I don't up sample to DSD, I like PCM better. It sounds more "real" to me. I was thinking of adding the DCS upsampler sometime in the future, and that DXD might be better than PCM?. So another $19,000! How future proof do I need to make this stack if it maybe doesn't sound much better (or at all) than the Pacific Microsystems? Hmm, decisions?

 

Not sure if the MacAir is a temporary stopgap, but getting a better source would be my first priority. Certainly a lot cheaper and cost effective.