They all share the same ring dac as dCS only make one, just different filters and maps on them, plus the odd extra box and separate power supply. But basically they share the same design
Youāre making the expensive ones sound like snake oil. Iām sure theyāre not.
Just winding up my favourite zealot!
Obviously thereās always something new and hopefully better, especially in the digital area.
I would love a Varese as i am sure everyone would, but unfortunately i donāt have the room, rest of a system to do it justice or the big one the money.
Very happy with the vivaldi as most are as its still one of the best dacs you can get, 14 years later since it was released, but itās not the same as it was.
Its a bit like if naim still did the NDX, but instead of replacing it they gave you updates to keep it revenant and now its the nd555, but still a NDX. If you get what i mean.
Fair enough, whichever route leads to Nirvana is the right route.
No just saying how it is, no lies. They only make one dac and have done for decades, itās basically the same as it was at the start, obviously itās been tweaked over the years, but the Varese dac is basically 2 vivaldi dacs running in mono mode. This gives it twice the sampling range, etc.
The ring dac came about from radar, used by the military. As it was by far the best radar at the time, as it was so quite, etc in the way it worked that you could pick up small objects a lot further away, etc. It was just moved over into the hifi world as the owner also liked music.
OK, in that case I guess if someone didnāt like one of them, they wouldnāt like any of them.
Going a bit off topic really and we shouldnāt lol. But i guess so, but then they do sound different, no different to naim also i guess you either like it or you dont.
Anyway lets here more about the MPD-8
How about this: It costs $26,000!
The thread is about finding the ultimate digital front end, that sounds like a bargain within that context.
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If itās not enough expensive for some, that kind of persons exist ( they would buy a baguette for 10k thinking itās the best), then thereās still the Audionote Fifth dac Fifth force, for around 200 k euros.
More analog than analog.
Our humorist Coluche was saying that this cleaner washes whiter than white, as advertised. So probably grey.
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I turn my back for five minutes and we are debating missile defense systems and Audio Note pricing 
Just to pull us back from the brink of a dCS turf war and recalibrate slightly: when I say āUltimateā digital front end, I just mean ultimate for me and my NC system. The ND555 was the undisputed champion (for me) until the firmware updates changed the voicing (in my view). I am just looking for the ultimate replacement to reclaim that throne, not the most expensive box in existence.
Speaking of expensive, @bhoyo, I have some bad news about that $26k price tag. To get the system sounding as good as it did in my review, you have to factor in the MPS-X to utilize the optical P-Link connection. When you combine the cost of the DAC and the streamer, it sits squarely in the same financial bracket as a fully PS-ed ND555. It is not a small investment.
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Why not wait first for the new firmware ?
Audionote 200 k dac is indeed not for you, but I think they start at 10k. And their sound signature is very natural, from reputation.
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Whereās the new firmware? Iām sure it was very very very close to a release Christmas 2025?
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Yikes! Well, good luck, my friend. Iāll continue to get my vicarious sonic thrills by following along with your quest.
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Thatās right, then it was imminent, then it was before Easter, and then the thread was closed and here we areā¦.
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We are getting near 1 year mark. Long time and enough for a perfect software product - is it? 
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This is my number one thread, as I think I will be looking for a new non naim top streamer soon.
I read all your nice posts - but as resume, who is your favorite for today? MDP-8? Was nd555 beaten or is nd555 native still best in your system.
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Thank you for this topic and discussion.
Today, I received an email from Antipodes Audio, and they will be releasing new products at Axpona 2026.
The new Oladra products will be out of my price range, but they look fantastic!
I am interested in their new three-port switch.
It should be an exciting weekend!
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Please tell us a little bit about your experience with the Berkeley Alpha Reference Series 3p. According to Robert Harley and others at TAS itās considered the best DAC for reasonably sane money.
Apparently the new 3P series only difference is new chip code, plus waveguides placed on the IC chips themselves.