Did the first listening comparison yesterday. Picked one of the brightest, harshest songs in my CD collection. Saturday Night's (Alright For Fighting) off the Elton John compilation album Number Ones. Low class C SQ rating. I rank all my CDs from class A to class D based on sound quality. An example of class D would be my Robert Johnson compilation album of original recordings from 1939. An example of class A would be Dire Straits Love Over Gold. Class B is the majority of my collection. Class C is listenable, but you're always aware of the recording's limitations. So...
My system is Oppo UDP/Schiit Freya/Vincent SP-331/Vandersteen 2Cs/Anticables ICs and speaker cables/dedicated room/acoustic treatment all four walls plus ceiling/dedicated AC line/meticulous setup per Jim Smith's recommendations.
With the original setup the song Saturday Night's SQ is low class C.
Adding the Schiit Modi Multi DAC (using the Oppo as a transport) gave some much-needed warmth, taking the glare down and resulted in a sound quality rating of high class C, a significant improvement.
Low cost, better sound, I'm happy.
As always, YMMV
Tom
