@martinman -Having owned and a number of ES chipset DACs in the past, and been disappointed by the sound, I gave the ES chipset one more go and purchased the LKS MH-DA005, based on rave reviews by many A'gon members. It's an end-game DAC, and with the release of the MH-DA006, an affordable (under $2000) purchase.

It uses two ES9038pro chips, has a beefy power power supply and Mundorf capacitors. I mention the power supply and Mundorfs to echo what others have said on this thread. It's not only the chipsets but how they are utilized.  

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/musetec-lks-mh-da005-dac?highlight=LKS%2BMH-DA005

Get a Audio Mirror Toubadour IV SE or a LAIV Harmony DAC...both R2R  and never go back!

Gustard R26 works for me. Started with a Topping (something) 70, then a Denafrips Ares ll, now the Gustard. I prefer R2R dacs.

@martinman

Hi,

So if you have no budget problems and want a R2R DAC you would definitely find yourself very well with AQUA - LA SCALA Mk III Optologic Dac, decidedly excellent and analog sound. Certainly not cheap but built with great accuracy and with top components.

Instead if you have budget problems a great solution could be a DIY construction using IAN CANADA cards. It is true that ES 9038 chips are still used but if you add a reclock card and a transformer audio output card (entirely passive) and also use a supercapacitor power supply then you will see that things change a lot. I myself after having various DACs also based on AKM or Philips or ESS chips I had never managed to obtain a sound that satisfied me (in reality I am a lover of vinyl that I reproduce through an SME turntable), so I tried the Ian Canada route. Now I am acceptably satisfied, good sound, transparent and sufficiently analog. With DSD 128 files really great!

Regards

Alessandro

@martinman There is an alternative... If like me you understand that with music playback anything beyond 24bit 48Khz is not going to increase musicality, then you may be interested in the path I have taken with streaming. I use a Yamaha A3000 sampler from 1997 as a DAC. I bought it new as a musical instrument and in today’s money it would retail over $3500.... Now all I know technically is that the DAC chipset is Sanyo and the components used were of a high quality. Yamaha were attempting to break into the pro audio sampler market big time and blow the competition out of the water, so little expense was spared, and we all know how good Japanese high end gear is.

I stream lossless ALAC set to 48Khz max, from Apple Music via a Bluesound Node Nano into the Yamaha via coax and then the output analog goes to a 1960s Japanese tube integrated amp. a Trio W-41. The results are extremely close (almost indistinguishable) to my vinyl set up. (my first love) -- Thorens TD125mkII / Ortofon M2 bronze and EAR 834 phono stage. When I first compared them I couldn’t quite believe it. I am a critical listener by profession as an audio recording technician in Film and Television and I doubted my ears for the first time ever, so I blind tested it to younger ears in a HiFi shop listening room. We were in agreement.... it beggars belief that a piece of audio kit from 1997 was far more pleasing to listen to than a 2025 high end DAC with all the big numbers attached to it’s spec sheet.

If you can find one it needs to have the added digital I/O board which was an after sale option, and also do a resistor mod to the power supply cooling fan to make it ’near silent’ and if it has an internal hard drive like mine then that needs disconnecting also. I have experimented a lot mixing vintage with modern gear over the past 2 decades, and I honestly don’t feel I will ever need to try and better this combo.

Oh and it also has a level out pot and a pretty good headphone stage.