During my recent audions of cheap DACs, I also found that the ESS chips weren’t my preference either. I settled on an SMSL C100 with the AK4493 chip set for ~ ~$120. It was really good in it’s stock form for the cost, but adding a MUSES02 opamp, and linear regulated power supply really brought it up a few clicks. Extremely happy with that combination. The SU-1 is very similar for a bit less if you don’t want to pay for the remote.
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?