Rank the top reference DACs you've heard

Wadax Reference 105

MSB Select II 100

Ideon Absolute 98

Lampi Horizon 97

Lampi Pacific 90

Dave (Farad 3 linear power supply and Mscaler (fed by linear supply) 90

Ideon Ion 89

Wells Audio Cipher Dac II 88

After spending one week with Dave modified with Farad 3 power supply, I upgrade its score from 87 to 90.

Now its bass is very tuneful with nice decay while some remaining siblilance is gone.

If you have Dave, I have strong recommendation for Farad 3 installation which cost me 3k euros including three separate power supplies.

Thomas

Thomas

Berkeley Audio Design Ref 3 DAC ought to be in consideration. I own a BAD Ref 2 DAC. Streaming via DH Lab D-750 SP/DIF IC with BNC adapters from Bluesound Vault 2. Even with that low-cost streaming set-up, sound is vivid, natural, and dynamic.Sound has both large scale and intensity present with best analog set-ups. 

Just took possession of a Gryphon Kalliope yesterday. To my ears and to my wife’s ears, it is absolutely fabulous. Smooth as silk without being gooey or sloppy at all; dynamic as hell; extremely fast and incredibly detailed without being etched, grainy, or even dry sounding; and seemingly effortless. It sounds just about perfect to my ears.

To me, "reference" DACs means High Fidelity more than anything else like "musicality" or "engaging" that are so subjective to evaluate. Those are the spice that you can add later by dsp, tube, or the placebo effects of your choice -- the price, build look...

’reference’ means nothing - simply what baseline one refers to in sound in comparing others

it is all about the experience level, system quality level, hearing acuity and taste of the person who is doing the comparisons