I also have a Marantz CD5001 that I use as a transport with my Insight+ DAC. There isn't any comparison in the quality of their analog outputs.
The scary thing is that the Marantz outputs were noticeably better than most of the DACs I have tried. Now I have an analog signal path that is 100% Frank-based.
Next up - streaming from my iMac to Airport Express to TOSlink-coax-> Insight+. No more digging through hundreds of CDs and no loss of quality.
And I suppose this will be no surprise to anyone, but I had to try it - the Airport Express *analog* output sucks out loud.
Brett
p.s. Now I have about 8 hours with the new DAC, initial impressions were correct. It was better across the board but most of the difference was at the low end, dramatically improved punch at low frequencies, much more resolution at low frequencies. The Airport Express wireless gadget with TOSLINK output, through the toslink->coax converter, is, as you would expect identical to a real CD from the CD digital output assuming that the encoding of the original CD to iTunes was done lossless. The difference between the 256kbps ITunes+ and a real CD was much more noticeable with the DAC that it had been on the iTMS-> physical CD played through the CD player. It was still better than without the DAC in place, but the difference between a decent bitrate AAC and a Red Book CD was much more obvious because the Red Book CD was FAR better, and the AAC file was only a little bit better.
I am running the "itunes DJ" function, and as I type, Virgil Fox playing "Fugue in D Major" came on, oh goodness, hope the neighbors, or the cops they call, like Bach (or at least 32 hz organ pipes). The iTunes-as-music-server thing is a breakthrough, I have enough CDs that finding anything is a nightmare. I'll just import them all and then store the physical CDs.
There have been zero operational problems, as expected, and having extra switched outlets on the back of the DAC (just like the preamp - probably just filling holes that are there anyway) was a nice surprise and cut down on the clutter of wires. The only (very minor) nit-pick I have is with the TOSLINK=> Coax box, specifically the power supply. It has the effect of blocking the other outlets because the prongs are, for lack of a more descriptive term, sideways. It would be great with a "vertical format" power strip. That's a real nit, it's not like I couldn't find a place to plug it in.
My only real problem is that now I want another Airport Express and another Insight+ DAC to go on the other system. But that will have to wait.
p.p.s. BTW, if you are fans of dynamic range, and have a Telarc 1812 overture CD, throw it away. Go get a BluRay player and the "Band of Brothers" box set. Don't turn the volume knob past about 9:00, or you may break something.
