DAC question - is music streamer DAC better than mcintosh DA2?

Thank you for sharing your experience @podosound. 
 

i used hifi rose 150b and it’s just next level in terms of sound quality. 

but i had to return it because it would skip tracks. 

hifi rose has admitted the faults as well. 
 

i received the node icon and it is no where close to the same sound quality and i am bummed out. i will let it break in and see what happens. 
 

i also returned the MA352. The MA8950 is coming soon to go with my electa amator 3. @oddiofyl - isn’t this combo what you have and liked? 

I just replaced my C47 with a C53 with the DA2. Both my wife and I agree the DA2 sounds better than the DAC in my EverSolo. But...

Sending digital to the DA2 from the A6 I get the silence at the start of new tracks, clipping the first second or so of each track, which is terribly annoying. I get the same thing on coax, optical, and USB. I understand this is to avoid clicking or popping when the sample rate changes, but I don’t get any of that using the EverSolo DAC and outputting analog to the C53.

anyone else experience this? any idea how to solve, short of going to Roon and building in a silent signal at the start of every track?

5-month update: MA8950 DA2 is amazing either with my streamer or my Sony 4K TV. While I understand that the streamer has a more updated DAC, I have never felt like the DA2 is missing out on anything for my kinda music. Thanks everyone for your tips! 

Fantastic, enjoy!