I thought I would chime in here, older thread I know. I'm shopping for a tube dac and intended to buy the lab12 but got a bit sidetracked by some negative reviews or people saying it was only good for acoustic music.
I tried the melto and didn't like it (their phono stage).
The pre1 and suono on the other hand, I just spent a year trying to beat with every $20k ish amp that came my way: Dartzeel, vtl, levinson, Vinnie Rossi, octave etc..and non could beat the lab12 combination for overall presentation of pure music.
I'm trying to avoid the same thing (10 amplifier/integrated in 12 months).
Can you folk with the lab12 dac comment on rock/electricona etc..?