Bladelius Embla is my nominee for "Outstanding Digital Components"

It is a digital front end with preamp capabilites. Built solidly with or without a CD drive, depending on which version you choose.
I chose the Embla DL with Classic DAC where DL stands for DiskLess...
So i will have to use a computer for ripping my CD's with Exact Audio Copy or similar. These files are then transfered to my NAS and/or an external USB drive which connects to the Embla. (My music collection is already digitized on to the NAS)

The DL version sports a full preamp with two single ended analog inputs along with one balanced. Of course you also have access to four digital inputs in the shape of USB (device mode, for attaching a computer), AES/EBU balanced digital, TOSLink and of course one electrical SPDIF.

The unit is controlled with the supplied remote control called Mjölner, a very classy looking alu device. However the buttons are small and the text likewise so it is not a comfy use for us old gitters' with limited vision...
The response though, is excellent and you access all functions in a flash. Feedback from the large display is also very clear and informative and the interface as a whole is functional and well though out. (OK, this not iOS, so some functions require a quick whirl through the manual)

Included in the purchase is also the iPad app, which you receive as a gift from the supplier. (normal price $199)
The App mimics the display on the unit, but with bigger cover art and also source selection, volume control and some further items. The App is very responsive and lets you select music from your network or the attached USB device very quickly and effective. When a track is selected for play, the whole album is placed in the play queue and you cab set the iPad aside and use the physical remote for directly selecting individual songs from the album. Excellent IMO, as the iPad can be a distraction if you have to fiddle with it constantly...

With the Classic DAC comes the opportunity to select between three digital "filters". Filter A mimics the sound from Bladelius reference disc player the Gondul M (A quite xpensive item at around £12K) and you can chose to resample to any given frequency between 44.1Khz and 192Khz. This filter uses Burr Brown DSD1792 DAC's. The sound with this setting is quite engaging and lively, but still with a positively "analog" signature, upsampling to 96/192 smoothes the audio further than without upsampling.
Filter B actually uses a Wolfson DAC, but i do not know which one... This filter sounds a little less engaging IMO, but i haven't really got to know this one yet.
Filter C is claimed to eliminate pre-ringing by some clever algorithms and uses the BB DSD1792 DAC's. This is the most "full bodied" filter with a very analog sound, excellent dynamics and detail retrieval but not obtrusive in any way.

I tend to select between non upsampled Filter A, upsampled to 192Khz Filter A and mostly Filter C (preset to "optimized upsampling" by default)

When used as an UPnP Media Renderer this unit sounds absolutely marvellous, and also when playing files from an external USB unit. The digital inputs sounds equally magnificent when fed with good quality LPCM.
I have not tried the USB input as of yet, but i remain sceptical to USB based audio streams until proven wrong!

The preamp part is also based on Bladelius reference components and is a mighty powerful unit delivering output into a set of balanced connections as well as two sets of RCA. The RCA's have different output levels for matching various poweramps. The volume control is digitally managed but performed in the analog domain. The gain is on the verge of too much and i haven't been above the 30% mark as of yet!
It seems to be a very clean sounding preamp with lots of dynamics and not much coloration. It betters my previous Marantz SC-11S1 in my system and opinion! I feed analog signal from my Tom Evans MicroGroove into this and am mucho pleased with the results. I have the opportunity to tap into this signal and AD convert it for recording purposes. There are several options to do this and various digital outputs on the rear.

As you can probably hear (?) i am very pleased with this unit and can recommend it to anyone wanting a one-box digital/analog front end/preamp!

Regards Mike
Ps will try and add some pics