Our club did an informal shoot out between the PS Audio Driectstream Mk 1 and the Holo Audio May KTE. Output level matching was a little challenging but after we got that dialed in, the actual sound difference between the two was negligable. I slightly preferred the Holo but for the price difference of picking up a used PS Audio over a new May, it was a no brainer. I would get the PS Audio and never look back.
R2R next? Don't like ESS
Can you recommend a good 'starter' R2R dac? I've been through a number of ESS Sabre dacs and they're not for me. IMO, they lack a certain transparency that I'm after. Point of reference: The *only* dac that I've heard that is decent to my ears is a 10yr old Maverick Audio D3 w/ Sparkos OpAmp swap. *This* was great. Alas, I sold it because I thought I could do better with something newer.
Geshelli's offerings have piqued my interest - the J3 in particular - but it's an ESS chip. Wondering if I should make the jump to something R2R - Denafrips, Broder Patrol.. thoughts?