"Some might call that innovation"

Unfortunately the post was renamed, I have never questioned the ability of M to innovate, only to deliver what the consumer wants when the consumer wants it.

The 808.3 is one of the worlds best CD/pre units. The analogue is superb and, if I had decided to follow that path I would be very happy to have one at the front of an analogue power amp and conventional speakers.

BUT... I see very little difference between the ID40 modular card and the new audio output card of the control 15. If you browse the wiki and watch the video you will see the share the same chip sets etc.

So, for that particular part of the digital signal path they should provide the same. If you're using the 808.3 only as a network receiver and processor, outputting via SPDIF via MSL in the same way there should be little difference.

However... the power supply environment is superior in the 808.3 and the 808.3 may have considerably more processing headroom internally for upsampling etc.

The power supply for the Control 15 could be improved if a scope shows noise issues. If I chose not to perform upsampling then I suspect there should be very little difference between the two on the SPDIF output...