oldgringo:
debt_collector - glad to offer my opinion - your last question is the simplest - is it worth the extra £2K? It's worth the extra outlay in much the same way as spending an extra 2K on say an amp or speakers is ;-)
In terms of the improvement in the sound - the bass, oh the bass! It's much deeper, richer and far better controlled. I would say it's tonally neutral compared to the Cambridge which sounded 'thin' in comparison. As I mentioned, I'm not good at superlatives and nor at articulating the differences in sound. The best I can say is that I no longer feel as though the sound is being compromised in any from not being sourced from a CD transport, whereas I did feel that from the Cambridge.
Going back to the AVA set up for a moment, another option, and one which I have, is to use a simple PC running Win2K or XP as well as music server (I'm running SqueezeServer). Streaming audio files doesn't take much oomph or RAM so an old PC will be more than adequate. Plug in a wireless USB adapter at one end and a SqueezeBox at the other, and you're off! And if you have the know-how, it doesn't take much to get a Raid 1 configuration working (and in fact some of more modern PCs that use the Intel chip set, have a raid controller built in, which makes the process even simpler).
Thanks for responding. As you can see from my set-up, I am a keen Bryston fan. Can I ask what amplifier you are using? I ask because DAC Magic sounded quite full bodied through my Bryston and the bass was fairly deep. But I am curious to hear how the BDA-1 sound in comparison following your post. I've been trying to arrange a demo to listen to the BDA-1 but for some reason, PMC who distribute Bryston can't get their act together and get a demo unit to a dealer near me (in London). Ah well, must be patient...