Enlightened Audio Designs (EAD) DSP-7000 Series III DAC (fully functional)
MSRP $2750.
This is a Series III model, upgraded by EAD from a Series II. Series I are not upgradeable. My unit is rare because it has a gold HDCD emblem on the front panel indicator light.
Includes: HDCD decoding; Digital Flywheel circuit; ST Optical Glass Fiber, Toslink, and Coaxial RCA digital inputs; Coaxial RCA digital output.
Does not include: Balanced analog outputs. Outputs on single-ended RCA only.
Service and upgrades still available from some of the original engineers of EAD, at Noble Electronics.
Rated 9 due to age.Lovingly Used., used in a non-smoking, no-pet home. Great condition...fully functional! PayPal. Shipping from San Diego, CA, USA not included. Buyer will choose and pay shipping from UPS, FedEx, or USPS. Prefer to ship to lower 48 states only. Shipping includes insurance. International buyers must pay for extra shipping costs and assume all liability of transit damage. The following information is courtesy of users of Head-Fi.org and Audiogon: "The EAD 7000/9000's are still more than competetive today IMHO.
Having listened to many DAC's over the last couple of years, including ML Dacs and the DCS pieces, the EAD's were again IMHO in the same league." If it is not an MKIII then it does not have the Digital flywheel.That was added only to the MKIII versions of all their dacs. I love my own 7000 Mk.III. I've compared it to many other DACs over the years and it has beaten them all. The PS Audio PWD Mk.II that I got recently is better only by a bit. I had my EAD hot-rodded by Greg Palma over at Noble. There aren't many DACs in the $4-5K range that can beat it. IMO you have to get into a much higher price bracket to have a chance. As to why? I'm not sure. But remember, the 7000 Mk.III was one of the best designed DACs back in the day. A lot of proprietary control code to handle jitter, an incredibly sophisticated design from power supply to the output jacks, and those Burr Brown PCM-63K DACs are still considered among the best multi-bit DACs ever made. The only other DAC from that era that had those kind of chops was the Wadia. My friend has one of those, and like the EAD it still holds its own. I think if anyone put the same kind of end to end care in a DAC now using one of these newer converters it would probably cost close to $10K, if not more. Don't forget, back when it came out in the early/mid 90s it was around $3000. Performance Features!
The DSP-7000 Series III incorporates advanced digital and analog design features, providing a new standard of sonic performance in digital and audio playback:
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