R2R next? Don't like ESS

I also find it bizarre ESS chip dacs claimed to  not be transparent, never heard that complaint before, colorless, cold, sterile are the typical complaints. If you have any of these complaints with ESS, improperly implemented and likely cheap Chinese variety. I'm with those who suggest moving to higher price dacs, the Laiv Harmony is a great R2R dac at $2700, amazing dac at the price, both forgiving and highly resolving. Dacs in lower price category short term answers, dacs $2-3K range can be reference dac for many.

@jfrmusic Switched from the Benchmark DAC3 with ESS to the MSB Discrete DAC R2R. Difference is night and day. Smooth, liquid analog like. No Digital characteristics. 

Yep, me too. Great specs on the BM DAC3B.  Totally un-engaging for me.  Was quite surprised. Was jumping out of my skin to get back to a good R2R dac, even a simple R2R chip dac. Ahh, much better, music came back.  

High-end Gustards are worth a look. R26 for R2R and A26 for AKM AK4499EX. I have three A26 for an active crossover setup. They invested in post-chip discrete analog output stages. Also separate power supplies for digital and analog sections. It also is its own streamer. 

As I have repeatedly said in several posts on many forums,  IT IS NOT THE CHIP IT IS THE OUTPUT STAGE and implementation and power supply that makes the biggest difference in sound . My current dac converting one's and zeros to music by ess 9038 pro and I haven't heard any denafrips doing it better yet...

+1, "IT IS NOT THE CHIP. IT IS THE OUTPUT STAGE, its implementation and power supply that makes the biggest difference in sound".    

And, of course, all your other components, your room and environment that makes for great sound quality.