Mid-priced warm sounding DAC?

Thanks everyone for the input. I'm still unsure as to whether or not I "need" upsampling. I've read that upsampling can somehow push distortion up above the 30 kHz range, but I have no idea how that works. Also, some of those tube DACS only have a 16-bit D/A converter. Wouldn't I want at least 24/96 ?

That Poth Audio is extremely cheap, and is something I could purchase right now. But would it be worth it to just wait? I'm sure the DAC in my NAD T 513 DVD player may be equal with the Poth, which would make it pointless to purchase this.

If the DAC does not oversample, wouldn't that mean that certain details in the music would be left out? I'm assuming that is the trade off: smoothness for musical detail.

Alpha3: I was actually looking at the A3 24 DAC before. I found a review for this unit on Sterophile.com, but I found Sam Tellig's review to be drawn-out and useless. I'm a bit skeptical about the very basic, homemade-looking NOS DACs. The Scott Nixon is so far the most attractive NOS DAC listed above. Has anyone heard the Scott Nixon and the Music Fidelity A3 24 who can offer comments on the differences between these two?

Thanks again to everyone who has offered help and suggestions. The Audio Mirror looks pretty attractive; I’ve been reading good things about it.

Well, my system has been built on a low budget. I know that there are a few elements that are responsible for some of the brightness. My amp is an NAD C 340 integrated, and currently I'm using an NAD T 532 DVD player for CDs, and a Sony DVP-NC685V for SACDs. The NAD sounds MUCH better on CDs than the Sony does, but it belongs to my dad and he'll want it back in a few weeks. After which, I'm back to the Sony and another cheap Philips CD player that I have (CDC-751, actually sounds better for redbook CDs than the Sony). My speakers are a pair of Triangle Antal XS, which are the culprit of the bright sound. I've heard that these speakers go very nice with tubes, so I'm thinking that a tube DAC may be able to level out the high end. The speakers are toed in, and the manual states this is the best way to have them. The speakers are firing long ways across the room, and I have some blankets up on the walls to help with standing waves. The room is about 13' x 16', a medium-sized bedroom.

Either way, I think upgrading the DAC will be a huge improvement. Right now I'm using QED silver anniversary biwire speaker cables, but those will need to be returned eventually also. I'm using Acoustic Research Master Series interconnects. Any suggestions on cables or anything else to help improve the sound?

Wow a 5 year old thread of mine. My how my system has changed since I posted this. But as for your question, I've got a PS Audio Digital Link III which I find to be pretty smooth sounding. I don't know if I'd call it overly warm, but it does have a very engaging sound to it.