Chord DAVE DAC

I've been most interested in the Holo May DAC. That would leave you some nice $$ to play with.

One thing I noticed about reactions to ASR -- Amir’s videos make a number of discrete claims and not all of them are false or spurious. But many simply dismiss his entire videos or his approach or him, as a person. But if some of his claims are true, they’re useful and should be considered, apart from whether one agrees with the other claims or like his approach or whatever -- because that advances truth and supports the hobby.

I want the DAC to be accurate. Just want to hear the music the way it was recorded.

Not sure what this means. The music was recorded using specific mics, in a specific room using a specific Analog to digital device, then played back over specific speakers (or headphones) and mixed accordingly, and then it was mixed again with certain kinds of output devices in mind (compression, perhaps).

In other words, you may be after something you will enjoy, but how you get back to some Ur-recording is mystifying. To hear it "the way they heard it" at the very least means being in their listening room (mixing studio), in their chair, with their speakers and playback system. Other than that, it’s all gavagai -- a translation.

But measurements don’t tell the entire story...so subjective opinions and objective reviews from professionals are necessary.

Subjective opinions are valuable if… their tastes are similar, their rooms are similar, their equipment is similar, their recordings are similar. Virtually no one goes to any trouble at all to verify these things. We just have people saying, "This DAC is analytical" or "This amp is smooth" and then others — with a completely different setup and tastes (maybe) then chime in and either agree or disagree.

@charles1dad 

In those circumstances where home auditioning isn’t feasible, I’ll take my chances with other humans who can offer hands (Ears) on feedback. @hilde45 if your past experiences are different, I understand.

I totally agree with you. What I like about your post — and this was really the point I was trying to push — is that there is a middle ground between groundless opining with no empirical controls and strictly controlled listening conditions. And we should strive for that middle ground or at least acknowledge (and specify) the most salient conditions under which our aesthetic judgments are formed.