Al! Cake day, buddy! Eat some cake.
Question answered. Bought one from a super nice fella here on our forum.
Al, you can have your cake, and eat it too!
Oh coolā¦APS or vanilla?
I prefer the label, āuntouchedā.
The other option besides upgrading from a partially modded DSD MkI to a MKII is sending the MkI back to APS and have it upgraded to max which is said to sound much better than a stock MKII. Thatās an option Iāve considered, but Iām still content for now with my partially modded DSD MK 1.
Says who?
Thanks for the kind words Ron. I will be posting some other items for sale on the forums here in the next day or soā¦
Your DAC will go out today. And back at you, our conversation was most enjoyable to say the least!
Says those whoāve actually compared the two.
I personally havenāt, but there have been some who have.
From what I understand much of what an modded MK1 is came from Ted Smith. He incorporated that into the MKII baseline. The code base on the MKII was much newerā¦ which probably means better since the same guy wrote both. I did not compare, but just pointing out the knowns. I do know the APS transformers added a great deal of SQ. I did do those. And If my budget was 3-3.5k right now, I would be on hunt for one of those. I am lucky enough to have the 512.
@RonP is good people!
Brian, remind us - were you the person who felt the built in PMG 512 streamer wasnāt quite as good (objectively) as the RS130?
Happy cake day Al! Iām glad I donāt get to hear a superb system like your friends, no way Iād get even remotely close to it and would be a source of frustration.
I had sold both the MKII and rose a few weeks before getting the 512. So all my subjectivity is based on memory. That being said I think the streamer combo in the 512 sounds much better. I did try the A6 and the internal streamer was noticeably better. I wish ninjas kept the 130 longer for comparison but I did not
I was considering one of the certified Mk2s (called in today), but couldnāt get much in the way of assurance the unit wouldnāt have significant cosmetic issues. The DS Mk2 certifieds are trade ins. Customer service āwasnāt in the position to check stock due to staff sizeā and would not be in a position to exchange it if I got an ugly one.
Was the 512 worth the upgrade?
I doubt youāll find anyone who did the upgrade saying it wasnāt worth it (for them). 
Itās a personal decision. For example, I did the PST to PMG SACD upgrade and, while Iād say it was worth it for me, in a frankly objective sense the PST could easily remain as someoneās ālast for meā transport. Itās still that good, as is the MkII. How much is the last fraction of gain worth to any given person? 
I had the MK 1 and the HARDWARE was way in arrears of the firmware for the sound as it went from Huron to the last firmware. Iād be sure to make sure you pick the firmware you enjoy as thatās a BIG changer.
Galen
Thank you. I just bought an Airlens (it was just shipped) and was thinking the DS Mk2 would be a nice add to replace an old Luxman DA-06 DAC and pair with the Airlens. The Airlens will now go in the headphone rack with a W4S anniversary DAC, and Iāll keep my options open to eventually replace the Luxman. No hurry to replace it, itās a great DAC in its own right, just a little dated. The Signature DAC streamer may be the better play in the long run.
As Tony said, for me yes. I had credits and sold the old one for decent amount..so the buy in was not as bad as from scratch.