Spin class with Roger Murtaugh. The CDT3-Mk3 was still hunkier than Avatar, its lid solid without circular spy glass. Both remotes were similarly festooned with small buttons to insure that the face plates had only minimal controls. 'round back Avatar went long with twice the socketry.

To take the sonic measure into my Sonnet Pasithea, I burnt two identical CDR. Starting up the transports with two sync'd fingers, I had seamless one-button switching from the seat.

Use the mouse-over enlarger for the playlist below. I had two different heroic male vocals with big drums or orchestral, virtuoso Jazz guitars, a Flamenco/Indian crossover, piano with cello, assorted hand and synth percussions, a big live performance between two ensembles plus wailing singer, Romanian accordeon, Turkish lute, different female vocals and more.

Since Jay's CD-Pro2 spun up two seconds slower than Mr. Zhang's CDM4/19, the only way I knew that I'd really switched sources was because of that related 2-second shift in the music. With no audible gaps, I could see a foot-tapping audience lost at sea figuring out why their earnest beat keeping kept screwing up since there was no other giveaway. Nada. Chew on that. Hello Murtaugh.

I don't know why/when Avatar became unobtainium. I suspect being priced at ¼th of today's CDT3-Mk3 quickly proved unsustainable whilst at least doubling the tag to get real was equally prohibitive. As such there's no current Denafrips spin jock to trouble Jay Ho. Given that his best is bound to dominate the half-priced CDT2-Mk3, we might say that on the audible score and adjusted for inflation, the CDT3-Mk3 is Avatar reborn. Old soul, new chassis and branding. In the Tibetan tradition that's a tulku; the reincarnation of a revered teacher. Rabten Choeling down the road from our former Mount Le Pélèrin digs above Switzerland's Vevey had just such a living tulku in residence. We saw him sit beneath the garlanded photo of the prior abbot. Meanwhile in faraway Ireland, Murtaugh's next coming sat in my same blue Ikea rocker scratching his head. That's because streaming/spinning comparisons proved equally equal. If there were differences, I couldn't tell. At ~€3'500 for my fully loaded iMac at the time, a few quid for Audirvana, €2'850 for Soundaware's D300Ref ultra-cap'd USB bridge and €600 for the double-header red KingRex USB cable, my streaming combo prior to the DAC tallied at €7K without yet factoring an extra power cord or shelf. Doing the exact same sonic job, Jay's now got there at €5K with just one box. That reiterates my prior finding. To equal top-quality CD playback with streaming takes more doing. But/and… it can be done!

Next, DAC2-Mk3 meets Terminator Plus. Then, Soekris 55-bit digital volume control meets Slageformers so multi-tapped attenuation autoformers switched remotely without any clicks.