@cfarrow
Agreed. SW1X is a great start for a pure R2R DAC, extremely analogue sounding because they are also NOS digital filterless, not just another R2R dac.
Topping or Denafrips are budget options but you'd find yourself wanting to upgrade those in a few months.
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?
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