Mid-priced warm sounding DAC?

I like the Scott Nixon Tube Dac. It is a non-oversampling dac. Scott supplies it with a Philips Miniwatt 6922, I prefer the Siemens 7308 which isn't expensive but produces clearly smoother sound. Price of the Tube Dac, brand new, is $475. If you're not into tubes, then the Chibi Dac is just $250. Down the road, you could convert the Chibi Dac to run off battery power (Vinnie Rossi of Red Wine Audio does this), which will give you the cleanest power possible.

I find that non-oversampling dacs sound very coherent and have more refined top ends than most oversampling dacs. They can fall a bit short in terms of bottom octave bass but they reward you with a beautiful natural midrange and refined treble.

Non-OS vs oversampling is is like tubes vs solid state. Tubes should not sound good since they don't measure well. Conversely, SS should sound much better, given the great specs. However, when you listen, tubes can sound magical and muscial. The same is true for non-oversampling. If music were originally recorded as 24/196 then I think that a 24/196 dac would sound great. But if your source is redbook cd (16/44.1) then the sonic benefits of upsampling/oversampling are dubious (in spite of the so called technical arguements).

Search on audioasylum.com. Nietzsche posted a review that included the Scott Nixon and the MF A3 24. Based on his description (and my experience) the TubeDac will be great for a bright system like yours. I also think that the newer Tube Dacs have improved speed and extension (mine has been updated by Scott). The dac no longer sounds slow, though it doesn't slam you around. If you do listen to a Tube Dac, make sure you give the tube 30 minutes to warm up before you make a final judgement.

By the way, what does the rest of your system look like? What transport are you using? What is your room like? What are the acoustics like? Are your speakers toed-in or do they face straight ahead? The key to curing the brightness in your system may lie elsewhere in your system than a new dac.

All speakers sound brighter when toed-in. Point the Triangles straight ahead and see if the tonal balance becomes more even. Soundstage should also seem wider and more expansive, though images larger and a bit less precise.