Really future proof? As in SW only upgrades without a hardware upgrade? I don't see how future proof is possible in that light. SW upgrades will keep obsolescence at bay but Hardware moves on every year. So you spring big bucks for a 24 bit, 196 KHz DAC, there is no software upgrade going to covert that to a 32 bit, 384 KHz DAC.
This. My experience includes DACs from both Schiit and Chord. I purchased the 1st gen Bifrost and had it upgraded twice (analog board and multibit). The next gen Bifrost2 was completely re-engineered making an upgrade from the 1st gen impossible. So much for future-proof. The Chord DAC started out as the Qute HD and was upgraded to EX when it became available, thinking I'd future-proofed a bit. 3 months later Chord released their brand spanking new version, the completely re-engineered Qutest. In particular, they overhauled the USB implementation (which they needed to do). In the meantime they stopped development of the HD/EX USB driver, which in a very short time rendered the USB connection to my Mac mini useless. Mind you, both DACs still work but the only upgrade path for either is to purchase new. BTW, the Chord experience was particularly painful.