I have been using the Dacmagic for 6 months now and the sound is amazing.The instruments are well laid out in the music I listen to.I didnt find any difference between Min,steep and linear.My setup is imac(itunes) to airport express to optical out into Dacmagic .My speakers are MA RS6.For 399 this is definitely a terrific performance DAC.Going from a budget onkyo receiver I am pretty happy with dacmagic
Regards
KS
Regards
KS