Hi Charles. What are you using as your CD player ( i.e. transport) to your DAC? I did check your signature line, and I can't figure it out based on what you have listed.
Curious because I think that your Merason DAC has an aes/ebu input. Not many transports have that output capability (EDIT: which is the best; sorry guys i2s isn't standardized or been around long enough to make that claim). If you're in the market for a serious transport, I'm selling my Emotiva ERC 3 CD player (which has aes/ebu digital out) This is an exception to the rule as far as overall emotiva quality is concerned. I'd keep it myself. Only reason I'm getting rid of it is I've abandoned the CD format.
Put the ERC-3 player/transport against a $10,000 esoteric CD player in side-by-side comparison, and you'll be a believer. Most companies utilize a boatload of marketing bs, but check out (watch/listen to his YouTube video) what Lonnie has to say about the ERC3, unlike any of their other products mind you. Even their latest ERC4 player isn't as good as their ERC3.
Best
Hal
EDIT: side note for the curious, the emotiva ERC 3 spins a CD at close to 1000 revolutions per minute, approximately three and a half times faster than most other CD player. The downside in doing so is that there is a very small amount of noise that can be heard from the motor if you put your ear right next to the player. This is not discernible at all from the listening position. The advantage in spinning at the speed that they do is that it has significant error correction capability *far* beyond that of most any other CD player I've ever encountered, and I've encountered a lot. I'm giving away 3000 CDs with the player, which doesn't include the 7000 that I had prior that I've already given away, and have used/heard on dozens of CD players from Sony Walkman, to oppo, to marantz, to esoteric, to mark Levinson, Sony ES series and other brands I don't even remember the name of.
