Playback Designs Merlot dac

Sounds like he's moving up to the Aqua Formula.

Vibe

 is the Merlot in the same League as the Dave??

PS Audio Direct stream has a lot in common with playback  designs for their 
Master engineer gave the gifted software engineer from Microsoft
A lot of knowledge in DSD, design  ptogrammable software 
Which is how they operate native DSD, their new Huron firmware upgrade is Very Good. IMO an exceptional dac and for far lower money then most of their peers.

Pretty good up to the level as DAVE. However the Formula DAC which is at 14K is better by a small margin especially on Air Between notes.

Fair enough, that's very high praise.  How is it with 16 bit 44.1 audio? Most my files are lossless CD rips.

Does not use off the Shelf Chips. Its proprietary codes belong to Andreas Koch.

I used to own the MSB Analog & Platinum DACs, both at the same time as one was allocated for my office whilst the other for my Main listening room. I sold both and purchased 2 Of the Merlot that should give you some idea.

Its a FPGA DAC which can play all DSD in native format. Means unlike 90% of Other Dacs this one actually will give you outstanding DSD Playback up to Quad Rate!!

In my honest opinion it has bested a few more expensive dac easily. Compare this DAC to a DCS Playing DSD and tell me which you prefer?