JHC- here are my notes on different DACs I’ve had in and out of my room, mostly courtesy of the Chicago audio community but now recently the greater Seattle community too. Unless otherwise noted a Cambridge CXNv2 was the source.

Eversolo DMP-A6. Really a nice all-purpose unit. In this case I used it as a source too and didn’t care for their streaming interface. I fealt it was a little brighter than my (at the time) Cambridge CXNv2 and slightly blurry, not as focused. I’d be curious to compare the A8 and A10.

Musical Paradise MP-DX mkii. I loved this DAC and regret selling it when I moved. I was using Jupiter copper foil/paper/oil caps in it and settled on Cryotone tubes. All in all I have nothing bad to say about this DAC and disappointed it was discontinued. I had the upgraded Femto clocks and this thing just had a weight and punch that I loved. I have considered their new streamer/DAC but the software integration isn’t there.

Denefrips. I had the Ares, Pontus, and Terminator. All were stepwise improvements on the previous but didn’t do it for me. Perhaps I expected more from the rave reviews and reputation. The imaging and soundstage is great. Very polished and sparkly. So much so that the Ares sounded fake to me and up to the terminator almost sounded real. All lacked the solid low end punch I expect, although the terminator was very good. I think there is better for the price though.

Holo Spring 3. It does everything very well but just wasn’t that musical to my ears. Not clinical, but didn’t get me excited. It didn’t sound digital but it sure fealt digital.

Geshelli. I don’t recall the model. I remember thinking “chi-fi assembled in America”.

Mola Mola Tambique. This was outstanding. Very good in every aspect from tight punchy bass to accurate yet sparkly top end and detail. Almost too accurate, as bad recordings were almost unlistenable. I found myself overly critical of mixes, although on a good recording this could be my favorite DAC.

Gustard A26. This was very good too. Fine at everything but didn’t wow me at anything either. I think many DACs do something better but the Gustard does everything well.

LTA aero. Absolutely great musical DAC. Solid accurate bass, top notch imaging and sound stage, micro details, and just so dang musical. If I chose to have separate streamer and DAC I think this would be my DAC.

Meitner MA3. Kind of a clinical and not overwhelming unit. For the price I expected a little more musicality or “wow”. This was another one where I used the streamer and DAC and didn’t care for the streaming side of it. Perhaps the DAC itself could be good but at this price I think you could do better.

PS Audio Directstream Mki. I had this around for several years and at first I thought it sounded good but as technology improved my fondness for PS Audio fell away. I think their gear is good when it’s new but it doesn’t hold the test of time. Kind of fad-ey I guess you could say.

Lumin T2. Excellent. I really liked this and considered buying it. I may spring for the T3x here soon. It does everything well and has a solid streaming app to boot, and the lossless volume control is no joke. Musical, realistic, accurate, non-fatiguing. A win-win.

I’ve been playing with DIY DACs too. And this is a rabbit hole I won’t go too far down right now. What I’ve learned is DACs have come a long way and at this point the differences are practically inaudible. Dual mono seems to be better than stereo, to my ears. What’s more audible is the clock and a clean power supply, as I alluded to earlier. It doesn’t matter if you are feeding clean power from the wall to the DAC and clock’s power supply if the DAC and clock are still operating on noisy switching power supplies themselves. Give them a good linear power supply with some big super capacitors and that’s when you’ll hear the difference.

All that said, my source and DAC are part of the system and I like what I like. Despite trying all these different products and being able to have most anything I want, I prefer the Cambridge CXN100. It has a great app interface, one interconnect from it to my amp, and it sounds really good. It’s not smeary, no fake bright sparkle on the top, but accurate tight bass and very realistic in my room with my amp and speakers. It works for me. Your mileage may vary.  :o