For digital playback, in recent months I've been breathing some rarefied air, pricewise. In December 2016, I reviewed dCS's
Rossini Player and Clock, followed in May 2017 by Meridian's
Ultra DAC, and in June by Chord's
DAVE DAC. The Rossini Player costs $28,499 without the Clock, the Meridian $23,000, and though the DAVE is less expensive than either at $10,588, that's still a fair chunk of change. Even PS Audio's PerfectWave DirectStream DAC, which I bought following
Art Dudley's review in September 2014, costs $6899 with the Network Bridge II, which hardly counts as "affordable."