I just listened to the Direct Stream with Snowmass at a family members home and it was impressive. I’m a big fan of AMR and own a DP 777se, and two custom AMR CD 77.1’s. I love how they sound and compare to my turntables. I recently had a Berkeley Ref (1st gen) that literally got crushed by my iFi iDSD Bl dac, no joke, it was ugly! All this to say I am not easily impressed by digital (have heard the big MSB and DCS gear) but the Direct Stream (only 50 hours on it) was very very good, very involving. If I were looking to buy a 7th dac :) the DS would definitely be on my short list along with a Denafrips Terminator.
The DS is an impressive piece of audio gear.
The DS is an impressive piece of audio gear.