Hi Keith.
 Maybe I won't get cut off responding today!
-> I've heard that good A/D and D/A convertors make a lot of difference.
 Just as much as an excellent microphone or phono cartridge can expand
or limit everthing downstream, and the speakers ultimately have the job
to faitfully reproduce the sound .. electroacoustic conversions are just
as touchy and contribute to the sound as any other component in a system
can.
Resolution (bitwidth) and sampling rate (.47frequency response) are also
factors in addition to the sonic quality of the converters. There are
people building TUBE A/D and D/A converters even.
-> Not to mention that those of you in the biz would have to get
-> new toys.  When I was in video, I never bought equipment 'cuz
 True, now in these days of everything getting sucked into the computer,
leasing isn't a bad idea!! You may still wish to own your microphone
collections and whatever favorite and irreplacable toys you need to
translate from those formats into your new digital stuff.
Bonnie *:>
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