That spelling is what attracted him in the first place! Playback Designs says it is a combination of Swiss - German engineering and American entrepreneurship so how can you go wrong? I still really like my Playback Designs DAC -- especially for DSD but also for PCM -- and they have a fancy new line that is not out yet as far as I can tell. Here are links for the current one and a press release for the new one: http://positive-feedback.com/audio-discourse/impressions-playback-designs-merlot-quad-dsd-dac-syrah-music-server-brief-notes-pinot-quad-dsd-adc/ http://positive-feedback.com/industry-news/playback-designs-dream-series-quad-dsd-dac-transport/