The word Value is frequently mentioned in high end audio product reviews no matter what the product under review actually costs. Value is incredibly subjective. I often cite my Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC Series 2 as a great value at $5,000. My non-audiophile friends would likely cite off-brand $5 iPod replacement headphones designed and assembled in China as a great value. The EMM Labs DAC2X I'm currently captivated by costs $15,500. It's the best DAC I've heard in my listening room to date. Labeling the DAC2X as a value is a much more difficult task for me even though its performance is outstanding. Rarely is a product introduced that meets nearly every audiophile's definition of value. I can't even think of such a product in recent memory. This year AudioQuest released what I consider the highest value product I've ever used, the $250 DragonFly DAC / Headphone Amp. In addition to my opinion about the DragonFly's value it's pretty clear an overwhelming
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Several Consumer Electronics Shows ago I remember seeing the PS Audio PerfectWave DAC in a very early stage of its development. If I'm not mistaken the front color display was actually an iPod screen placed in the front window of the chassis. Most high end audio focussed show goers had no clue what PS Audio was doing with this new PerfectWave series of products. As The Computer Audiophile one of my most important stops of the entire show was the PS Audio suite. The PerfectWave DAC was right up my alley and I wanted to extract as much information as possible from everyone in that suite. I must have asked the same questions to five different PS Audio representatives just to see if I could squeeze an extra morsel of information. I left the PS Audio suite thinking the PWD looked very promising based on a nice set of features and that PS Audio as a company was laser focussed on the next phase of high end playback with the PerfectWave products leading the way. Since that show PS Audio hasn't wavered in its dedication to the PerfectWave platform and computer based audio. In November 2011 PS Audio announced the MKII update to its original PerfectWave DAC. Once the dust settled I got my hands on the MKII this summer. After a couple months with the PWD MKII in my listening room I have some strong opinions about the product. The bottom line is the MKII update is a game changer that elevates the PerfectWave DAC to C.A.S.H. List 
status and puts the original PWD MKI to shame.
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Many people don't realize it yet but nearly all the high tech devices in use today are computers. Even iPhones and Android based smartphones are just small computers that fit into our pockets and enable us to communicate via voice. I remember the days of analog phones that never needed a reboot. Those were the good old days. Many audio components are no different from small purpose built computers. Some companies suggest their devices are for people who don't want a computer in the listening room or near an audio system. In reality these same companies' products are computers running Linux operating systems disguised as traditional audio components. Good, bad, or indifferent virtually everything is a computer today. Wadia's 121 Decoding Computer follows a long line of products with apropos names. Calling the company's Digital to Analog converters DACs is a bit too simplistic. Wadia writes software that runs on multi-purpose processors to decode and process digital audio. This audio is received, buffered, and processed by Decoding Computers such as the Wadia 121 similarly to conventional computers. To the end user a Wadia Decoding Computer looks, feels, and functions the same as any DAC. Connect a USB cable to the digital input and analog cables on the output and music flows without any user configuration. What happens inside the Wadia 121 Decoding Computer is another story complete with an advanced design similar to Wadia's very high end reference components. The 121 isn't the largest component on the block but is capable of competing at large component levels.
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German novelist Berthold Auerbach once said, "Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." That quote rings true for many audiophiles as they sit down for an evening listening session after a tough week. That quote is also apropos for millions of iPod users riding noisy trains home from work each day. The power of music reproduced through the best and worst audio systems can't be denied. Our favorite songs are just as powerful through an AM radio, iPod, or bank breaking high end system. Or are they? The short answer is no. Our favorites songs are more powerful and bring out more emotion when we feel closer to the music or artists creating the music. I found this out the easy way. Over the last couple months I've had the pleasure of using the new EMM Labs DAC2X digital to analog converter. Listening to my favorite music through this DAC was unlike anything I've heard in my listening room. The same tunes I've played hundreds times were somehow different. The songs were much more emotionally powerful as I heard artists exhale after each verse and felt the raw energy of a symphony orchestra like never before through my system. The illusion of sitting in the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra's pit or sitting on stage while Dave Mathews and Tim Reynolds play Christmas Song was more realistic than I've ever experienced from my listening chair. The EMM Labs DAC2X has the ability to transport me from my home in Minnesota to any music venue in the world better than any DAC I've heard to date in my system. This DAC not only earned a spot on the C.A.S.H. List but is the front runner for CA Product of the Year 2012. It's unequivocally the best DAC I've heard in my system.
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The Chord Electronics QBD76HD is a very unique digital to analog converter to say the least. The QBD76HD is one of a handful of distinct DACs designed around FPGAs rather than a mass produced silicon DAC chip. Externally the QBD76HD is just as unique with a rock solid aluminum enclosure and a simplistic yet sophisticated industrial design audiophiles have come to expect from Chord. Tying both external and internal design together is a one-of-a-kind large glass porthole that enables a blue LED lit view of the inter-workings of the QBD76HD. In addition to its unique design the QBD76HD has a unique sound that ranks right up there with some of my favorite DACs. 
Wireless audio in the home has traditionally been handcuffed by CD quality 16 bit / 44.1 kHz sound, mandatory playback software, wireless network configuration, or all three. Any one of these restrictions can be showstoppers for many users. I love the Apple AirPort Express and AppleTV wireless products but am not thrilled by the lack of high resolution audio support. On the other hand Squeezebox users love the ability to play high resolution audio but the required use of Logitech Media Server software is the elephant in the room. These obstacles, and many more, have been removed by Audioengine's D2 wireless computer interface. It's a wireless USB DAC, wireless USB to S/PDIF converter, and wireless optical S/PDIF stereo link. The D2 wireless computer interface supports up through 24 bit / 96 kHz audio, is compatible with every playback application supported by the host computer, and requires absolutely no wireless network setup. Audioengine has not only freed users from the technical prohibitions of other wireless audio devices but has also created a good sounding device in the D2 wireless computer interface. 
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