Times are changing

Until about 2013 I was using a Thule Spirit CDP for all my listening. The CD player had been extensively reworked in several steps by small german manufacturer Steinmusic. It served me well for almost 10 years but eventually developped some woes internally and finally stopped working altogether... so I began thinking where to go next?  Get another CDP,  build one myself or enter the world of computer audio?

At first I continued in two directions... one was starting to build a Shigaclone Transport based on the recommended JVC boom box (finished in the meantime but also sold) and the other was going digital in the way of a small DELL netbook as transport using FOOBAR and an external DAC..

The first DAC I owned was a used VALAB TDA1543-DAC  I found on Ebay. It served me in the initial phase of computer audio to test different audio players and settings... but the sound of the Valab DAC didn't convince me much so I sold after only a few months.

Valab DAC