Just to chime in, I've been using the Matrix for 3 months and the sound opened up in about two weeks of daily listening.
I'm using the XLR out and feeding it via HiFace BNC. I'd say the strong points of the DAC are air around vocals (they take a step forward from the rest), articulate bass, sweet treble, good depth (layers are easy to see) and realistic soundstage (wide and not concave or U shaped).
USB sounds a little dull but BNC sounds to best to me. Compared to the Oppo BDP83SE the Matrix is less detailed but they are comparable for casual listening. Now, compared to the Ayre QB-9 it's no comparison - but you know 8x the dollars, even audiophile flavor, should get you something...
I'm using the XLR out and feeding it via HiFace BNC. I'd say the strong points of the DAC are air around vocals (they take a step forward from the rest), articulate bass, sweet treble, good depth (layers are easy to see) and realistic soundstage (wide and not concave or U shaped).
USB sounds a little dull but BNC sounds to best to me. Compared to the Oppo BDP83SE the Matrix is less detailed but they are comparable for casual listening. Now, compared to the Ayre QB-9 it's no comparison - but you know 8x the dollars, even audiophile flavor, should get you something...