[Flashman]

I need some help here, especially as I cast a lusty eye toward the Isabella.  My setup is grand cru RWA -- 30.2 and a source Olive Music server -- with Omega speakers (Compact Hemps atop dual Deep Hemps, with Alnico drivers on order).  So I have some decent coin sunk into the Connecticut lads enterprise now.  And it sounds pretty fair.

So, I get the idea by reading the boards that a tubed preamp will take the already pristine sound and give it that fillip of finesse that will take me over the top.  I think I buy that because in a previous system incarnation I had a Cayin TA-30 integrated tube amp that gave me some wonderful holographic images with my modified Klipsch Forte speakers.  Anyone who has ever heard Klipsch-fed tubes knows what I mean.

So my question really has to do with the DAC.  Right now, the DAC is in my Olive music server and it must do a decent job because the music sounds terrific.  What will I hear with a top-of-the line DAC courtesy of the Isabella?  For some reason, I just can't imagine what it will do to improve upon the sound I now have.  I do get the tube preamp but the DAC question is driving me crazy.  Any thoughts?

Flashman a.k.a. Michael

[ZLS]

Flashman,

    This is the way I look at your question.  Vinnie Rossi is very familiar with the sound of the dac in the Olive in as much as he has modified a goodly number.  Mr. Rossi has stated emphatically that the dac he is designing for the Isabella is the best sounding dac of any of his previous products (Squeezebox, Olive, Imod).  Red Wine Audio in it's young history has never failed to deliver the "goods"  Every new product introduced has bettered the previous one.  The Signature Amplifiers bettered the Clari-T; the Signatures .2 quite frankly kicked the originals ass.  IMHO Vinnie Rossi has an established track record, if he says it is better than I would believe him. 

[kyrill]

but still it a very good question

it depends on the amount of money you are willing to spend as a "burst"
If you are already very happy with the sound, and i drool over your setup 
i would only buy the isabella sans dac. This will considerably make you more happy as this is the
way good tubes will love you.
Then later you have the choice to add Vinnie's dac to it, as i can predict feeling Vinnie's "gestalt"
that this dac will come and it will be better than the olive.

You can also sell the server and get instant nirvana
but building up pleasure adds the joy of the road to the city

contradicting technically this, I am afraid, is the build in dac does not need interconnects and the inevitable loss IC's will give compared to direct links. Vinnie must be able to make the integrated dac sound better than the same dac as a stand alone.

[Vinnie R.]

Flashman,

    This is the way I look at your question.  Vinnie Rossi is very familiar with the sound of the dac in the Olive in as much as he has modified a goodly number.  Mr. Rossi has stated emphatically that the dac he is designing for the Isabella is the best sounding dac of any of his previous products (Squeezebox, Olive, Imod).  Red Wine Audio in it's young history has never failed to deliver the "goods"  Every new product introduced has bettered the previous one.  The Signature Amplifiers bettered the Clari-T; the Signatures .2 quite frankly kicked the originals ass.  IMHO Vinnie Rossi has an established track record, if he says it is better than I would believe him. 

What ZLS said! 

And as Kyrill states, you can purchase the Isabella without the dac and later on this can be added if you wish