So I've had a Schiit Bifrost 2/64. It was OK, but even in NOS mode still a little too sharp for my taste. I swapped to an MHDT Atlantis dac and it's a much better option for my taste. No bite, great soundstage three dimensionality, and still enough detail to be happy. Also if you like to tinker with a soldering iron, it's an easy piece of kit to modify as well. And for tubes to select, a good 6922 variant or 6SN7 with adapter is nice, but the WE296A takes the win.
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?