Electrocompaniet ECD-1 vs Dodson DAC's

mercedes vs yugo

The ECD-1 sounds unnatural to me, particularly in the highs. And I think it gets congested and loses soundstage depth on complex music. Have only heard the Dodson DA-217 at CES in the Hovland room and it was fantastic.

IN terms of the mercedes vs yugo analogy, which is which

there is NO QUESTION that the Dodson DA-218 is FAR beyond the ECD-1 (so the Dodson is the merceded, the ECD-1 is the yugo)...although that's unfair, because the ECD-1 is more like a Camry or Accord. But the high-end Dodson is without question far beyond the ECD-1. Dodson is in the class of Meitner, dCS, Zanden, etc...

For a direct comparison of the ECD-1 vs. DA-218 by the owner of an ECD-1, you might want to check this out:

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=11779&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=31

It would be interesting to get some listening impressions of the Dodson DA-263