Dac: Does anyhting beat the Schiit Gungnir Multibit (Gumby) in the same price range?

timlub,

I have no personal experience with Gustard but I feel that it`s a bit over-hyped on some forums. You can check Head-Fi forums for Denafrips Ares R2R ladder dac. Here are some words from the HF member with very revealing top high-end system:

During the plays I also made a comparison with another my dac, Gustard X20U and with a dac of a friend of mine, Holo Spring level one, very similar technology as well since it is a R2R ladder dac. Well, the Gustard, unfortunately for me, is less on each parameter to Ares, impractical comparison.
Holo instead plays very well, especially in nos mode, but Ares is better, slightly, but better in the acoustic scene, it is more refined and even more detailed. The high frequencies are more airy with Ares while Holo they are a little more sparkling, bass frequency with both are very deep and controlled, on voices Ares win again on points, with Holo you hear a hint of sibilance that instead there aren't with Ares.

Someone in HF promised to compare The Audio GD DAC 19 to Ares so chances are that there will be some info soon. Audio GD is supposed to be very good also but if we check spec the R2R ladder resistors in audio GD are 0,1% precision (DA M1 modules) but Ares has 0.01% resistors and the top Denafrips models even use 0,005% resistor ladders.

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/diy/DA01/DA01EN.htm

The Ares gets some very good user reviews. But as noted at Head-Fi, the Ares uses many small capacitors in its design...

Yes it was discussed in HF forum. Small caps were chosen by designer for some reasons. One is that they react faster than big caps.

limniscate,

Maybe they are the same :))     ......... probably no?

Cleo,

Absolutely agree that there must be something special in Bitstream. I have a Marantz SA-1 that uses dual DAC7 (TDA1547) 1-bit Dual Bitstream. So far no digital I have owned or tried have ever touched it. And yes, I have had a loads of different digital from the latest and greatest to some very expensive players and combos.
Discrete R2R is another hidden miracle. I ordered Denafrips Ares for my TV and it`s absolute joy. It belongs to many, many times higher echelon considering it`s price. It`s the smallest brother so their higher dac`s like Venus or Terminator may be a serious contenders for my reference digital.