You have to try them for yourself in your own system, there's no way around it, me thinks, as a digital front end is too subjective and system dependent to rely on the ears of others. If you don't have a very good dedicated transport you may want to skip on the Musica Fidelity, as it is very transport dependent, unlike the Bel Canto.
Bel Canto vs. Musical Fidelity
Has any body gotten to compare the new MF A3.24 DAC versus say a Bel Canto DAC2? How about the Kora Hermes DAC? I'm interested in finding a very smooth DAC with analog like sound. Those are the 3 on my current list. Any others I've missed that have similar sound the 3 models above? Any comments on the 3 models above?