Attended Axpona last weekend and ended up using a 10% discount to purchase a Emotiva DC-1 DAC/pre/headphone amp (decided that DSD wasn't worth an extra $1,000 USD and from the "blue collar" reviews the DC-1 was "indistinguishable" from any other high-end DAC, which is good enough for me, a "speaker guy").
Spoke with John Pharo from the Cable Company. I'd submitted a system profile that they use to make recommendations and they have a library of cables that they loan out for in-home auditions. His suggestions were based on USB cable basics, build quality, and customer feedback. I like that and that they sell so many brands. My research and his recommendations did coincide on 2 of 4 cables. I'd really like to take advantage of their library, unfortunately one of the cables is currently out, so I'll wait to audition. Based on recommendations, build quality, and price hoping to audition stock USB, Cardas (Clear), Shunyata (Venom), and VooDoo (Magic Buss).
Will report back or post a review.
Thanks for all the comments, PM's, and helps.
