dacs that I have had in my system - a listing

I wonder if your final 3 would have changed if did not have a preference for a volume control?

this is a fair question, which deserves a thoughtful answer... this and the earlier question about ’best bang for buck’ dacs... i am in a busy stretch with summer family/visitors events next several days, i will try to provide proper replies sometime next week

I really like the sound stage depth and the separation between instruments the Qutest provides. As for what I want to get from something else is really more of the same with a sense of ease and realism

if you really mean what you wrote here the hugo tt2 will certainly meet your criteria -- but i sense you want to travel a little farther afield from chord, which is fine, all part of the experience/journey -- i would only say that once you get used to what the qutest/tt2 brings sonically, many (if not a majority of) other dacs may sound a little slow, a bit closed in, a little muddled and slurred -- in some cases cabling or cleaning up the front end feed may 'close that gap'

On my list of possible replacements for the Qutest is Holo Audio Spring3 KTE, the Weiss DAC 204, Denefrips Pontus II, and maybe Gustard R26. I'm interested in R2R because I've not heard one,  The Spring and the Weiss are at the top of my list.

just quick comment on the above statement, which i had missed earlier

the weiss units are not r2r topology - they are based on the ess sabre delta-sigma dac chips

I am also interested in getting your opinions on what are the best value Dacs among the ones you have tried.  And also, whether you think it is a good idea to bundle the streamer with the Dac these days so that the number of boxes can be fewer.  Thanks again for sharing all your knowledge!

let me come back and tackle some important queries posed...

I wonder if your final 3 would have changed if did not have a preference for a volume control?

for fixed output dacs, i would put a few i have had in the same sonic league (or very close) as my favorite three already covered, i could easily live with any of these sonically - i will make a few comments on the sonics of each

-- audio note kits dac 4.1 -- for a tube dac, very saturated and surprisingly spotlit sound, rather forward treble and excellent drive, to go along with terrific imaging... did note just a touch of sibilance and splashiness, but this likely cured with carefully tube rolling

-- mojo mystique v3 -- very sweet, delicate, analog sounding unit, maybe a touch lacking in drive and the last degree of inner detail -- i feel my msb analog dac has a very similar highly musical presentation but with somewhat superior imaging and drive

-- metrum pavane/adagio -- in my view, still cees ruitjenberg’s best efforts (including his later sonnet morpheus, which i did not like) -- utterly smooth rich yet detailed incisive sound, saturated and tonally accurate but plenty of drive when called for

-- bricasti m1 mdx as mentioned earlier (sonically a weiss clone to my ears)

I am also interested in getting your opinions on what are the best value Dacs among the ones you have tried.

in their respective price ranges, i would nominate the following

-- denafrips pontus/venus -- rich midband and midbass, coupled with a vast layered soundstage... very hard to beat in the $1500-low 2’s (be sure to listen in oversampling mode) -- pontus has just a fine grain thru with the upper mids/lower treble that the venus smooths out

-- mhdt tube buffered dacs (ideally with upgraded tube and output caps) -- sweet rich yet sufficiently insightful sound, very analog tonality but with pretty good drive -- hard to beat in the $1000-1500 range -- definitely in the sweeter smoother school and great for systems with klipsches tektons focals b&w’s i think -- walks you back from the bleeding raspy edge

-- chord qutest -- yang to the mhdt’s yin under $1500-- open detailed fast simply holographic, maybe a touch lean but will breathe life and insight into many systems (harbeths, vandys and so on)

-- gustard r26 -- so impressed with this $1500 streamer/r2r dac -- sounds like a good schiit yggy (lively detailed top, but sweet warm mids, great tone) with a roon ready streamer to boot (wow!) -- since i started this quest i considered gustard/matrix/smsl as lowest common denominator guangdong swill, but this one really surprised me with its really excellent sound and full feature set

-- the cambridge cxn v2 with modwright tube output mods -- $2000-2500 unit with full streamer preamp and oversampling dac using real deal modwright 6dj8 tube output stage (not just a tube buffer) -- tremendous sound (think of it as an audio note 4.1 lite) and full feature set -- dan wright’s tube designs have always sounded so right to me (awful pun, i know 😂)

-- finally, for an older/used dac, i would heartily recommend the musical fidelity trivista 21 -- wonderful sound, tube goodness with sweetness with insightfulness up top and excellent drive and bass foundation -- these are seen used not much over a grand, they are excellent sounding

jjss49 

Thank you very much for the valuable suggestions from your experience with all these DACs and calling out the great value buys.  I noticed you didn't include any Schiit models and am curious why, if you don't mind sharing that.