To follow-up and close out this thread, I ended up buying an Emotiva DC-1 DAC/pre/headphone amp (see my crummy review in the Critic's Circle). As my music is all CD based and the ugly truth behind DSD/DXD is that almost none of it is (or probably never will be because the original recordings can't be manipulated) native/pure but derived from PCM (or analog recordings), I started looking at PCM only offerings. And the blue collar reviews said the DC-1 sound quality was "indistinguishable" from the $1,000-2,000 products. So far I'm happy with it, the only negatives are has only 1/8 headphone jacks (I don't do headphones, so a none issue for me), closely spaced RCA jacks (but I run XLR anyway) and fussy volume adjustment on the remote control (either moves 0.25 dB per poke or jumps 6 dB when briefly held down).
Obviously I also decided to look towards active speakers (down the road). The Chicago Axpona audio show was a disappointment to me in that the DC-1 was the only product I was seriously interested in that was available to listen to. Salk WOW-1, Dynaudio X-14A (the BM 5 Mk III is the cheaper studio version that includes IsoAcoustic stands), and Quad 9AS were all there but on static display (while the vendors showed off more expensive/mainstream product, which I understand). Actives that I was able to listen to included 4 from Emotiva (Stealth 6 has been discontinued), small Genelecs in a HT setup (too crowded/dark to get a model number), and Gibson Les Paul 6 (that has a classic guitar baffle finish). The Emotiva had typical studio dryness with no audiophile "joy", the Genelecs was just too hard to tell between the crowd and unfamiliar material, but the Gibsons sounded very promising.
So thanks for all the ideas, questions, and suggestions.
