Teary
IT would be helpful if you specified which dacs you were referring to....
I think you need to understand that there is a difference between a professional reviewer and just a forum member like you and me.
A professional reviewer needs to be extremely careful when making statements that he liked the AM DAC more than a $25,000 DAC (let's call it DAC X).
People have different tastes for everything. Take wine for example. I may like one type of wine best, and you may like something completely different. That does not mean that my wine is better than yours or yours is better than mine.
Same thing with DACs. Terry liked the AM DAC much more than anything else he has tried. And he said he has tried many. This is how his review started. Read the first two sentences. The second sentence says:
"They ranged in price from $1,200 up to $25,000, and came from such luminaries as Playback Design, Ensemble, Accustic Arts, Eximus, Esoteric, dCS, PS Audio, MSB, Lab 12, and Mhdt Labs, to mention a few."
I like the AM much more than many other DACs too. But that does not mean it is a DAC for everyone's taste. There will be people who would not like the AM DAC, and that is fine.
But think about this - if Terry writes more specifically and says that he compared the $25,000 DAC X with the $2,500 AM DAC, and the AM was much better... well, who is going to buy or even consider DAC X for $25K? That would be an unnecessary reputation damage for DAC X. And just like my wine and your wine, DAC X might be (and probably is) perfect for someone else.
Unlike people like me and you, Terry and other reviewers have to be careful what they are saying. There is a reason they compare products from the same class and not with devices ten times the price of the product they review. But Terry was nice enough to send a message out there. And we need to read between the lines. What I read between the lines is that Terry found the AM DAC to be very special, he liked it a lot, and for the relatively inexpensive price in today's hifi market it should be something that people consider auditioning.
Ultimately, it is all about synergy and personal taste, and the only way to know if it is for you or not is to put one in your system and try it for yourself. But be careful, because it is addictive :).
