kevb, Stop procrastinating and get a DAC-9. You get a transparent preamp with remote, an analog input that doesn't get an A/D conversion, and the 4490 chip DAC section walks the fine line between too incisive/overly detailed and too smooth/rolled off. If you find many of the Sabre implementations not to your liking, the DAC-9 is is just right, not too warm but not lean, vocals are natural, and I find myself listening to music without concern about equipment. The differences between DACs seems to be shrinking, especially in the same price range, The DAC-9 matches your STA-9, multi-tasks eliminating a need for a separate preamp, the remote works flawlessly changing volume and inputs, USB, toslink, and SPDIF all sound terrific, and the price is a bargain.