I had the North Star. It is a very smooth and analog sounding DAC. Works great with the matching transport.
Another option I would consider is a Monarchy M24 or NM24. The M24 is tube only and available used if you can find one. The NM24 has both tube and solid state output stages. So you can switch between the two if you like. It can also serve as a linestage preamp, although I never used mine that way.
Another option I would consider is a Monarchy M24 or NM24. The M24 is tube only and available used if you can find one. The NM24 has both tube and solid state output stages. So you can switch between the two if you like. It can also serve as a linestage preamp, although I never used mine that way.