Source...which direction to go?

CNO. I don't know what you mean by an "all-in-one solution" but to my knowledge Musiteca is not an all-in-one in the meaning of, for instance, Marantz MCR-603 or Naim Uniti. it'll be more a HDD player rather than a streamer but still, it'll be a digital files player. there will be no added amplification nor volume control (at least no analog volume ctrl). there will be a CD drive added for the sake of copying CDs onto the drive. if you're interested here's a link to Stereophile's CES coverage on Musiteca. apparently there are still some issues, probably with the soft, to be sorted.

and as a bonus the In Transfer if you haven't had a chance to see it yet. also from Stereophile's CES coverage.

(don't you just love the new, less restrictive towards linking to external sites "house rules"? )

Sorry about the loose description....what I mean, is that it has an integrated screen and storage, whereas I just want a box which connects to my NAS, play music and be controlled with a handy thingy.

I've found it! I knew I saw somewhere what DAC is there in the Endorphine and it's Crystal Semiconductors CS4396.

I've got Digit CDP and can't really fault it in any way. it's said to be a copy of the Endorphine in major part. I really love it. but I also can't help thinking how it would sound if you combined DAC from Metrum Acoustics Octave (non oversampling and filterless) with Pathos's analog output stage...  here you can find how square wave and impulse response look like from oversampling and NOS Metrum DAC.

Was very interested in trying the NOS Metrum DAC as itàs not far from where I live. Lost enthusiasm and interest when they said they won't have any return policy as they thing the DAC is underpriced compared to its quakity that they don't take any back. Found it not very serious aptitude and lost interest...

Shame their attitude was off-putting ... but maybe you might want to give them another try ... Leggete qui .. Clicky

Funnily enough, I also had a similar personal experience to Acalex and reached the same conclusion. I also had an inkling it might not be to my taste. 

I might add there's now supposedly a UK distributor who offers a 30 day trial, so no excuses for asking Acalex to be the guinea pig!

That's a decent DAC chip, it would appear to be a bit of a mish-mash of multibit+DS. Interesting to note that these older Cirrus chips were developed by some of the Phillips engineers who worked on the classic TDA series.

http://www.dutchaudioclassics.nl/the_evolution_of_dac_the_digital_filter/#cs4397

Thanks for the link but as I said, lost interest as for me all this stuff is a matter of trust as well towards the producer other than the seller. If you really think your product is so underpriced compared to performance, than you should be even more willing to take it back if it doesn't suit your taste, right?

Not a very professional review, but one thing that comes over quite strongly about the Metrum from this an other comments/reviews is that it's nothing special until you feed it upsampled (or hi-res) material (but not 192 as it doesn't support it!). 

So add in the cost of a hi-end USB converter or upsampling CD transport and it's not really a "bargain".

It also seems to have a certain sound (or lack of "sound") that, IMHO, means that you have to listen first. 

Agree, plus the fact the producer itself didn't give me a good impression...the all way to handle contact with client was quite rude if I have to say it all

Sounds about right and I agree bel canto would be worth consideration, I hear very good things about it. 

What I would really like is for Acalex to try the Bladelius Embla and tell us what it sounds like: http://www.bladelius.com/products/bladelius/media-players/embla.html 

Don't know why that won't work as a hyperlink but hopefully will work as cut and paste. 

It really looks stunning...not sure will be easy to find here though!

I have heard it briefly here (Room CR1 Kronos AV):
http://www.adventuresinhifiaudio.com/12/11/2010/the-northern-ireland-aud...

I think it was through VTL amps and Triangle Magellan speakers. It was early on during the first day, which may have accounted for rather bright forward sound, or it may have been the Triangles, which I don't like.

Nb The system at the other end of the room was much more to my taste (of course ), and it consisted of a DCS Debussy Dac + AMS35i + Focal Scala + Atlas Asimi cables and Balanced Mains Transformer.

Interesting, thanks Cno  I think I first came across it browsing the Kronos website as they have some sort of setup in Manchester. I like the idea of 2tb internal SSD but hate to think of the cost! It's a shame you didn't get to hear it through familiar electronics, but that's usually the way at shows. Do they have one you could listen to near you?

I would love to hear the DCS someday, but am going through a (probably fairly lengthy) period where I must avoid temptation!