Six DAC Comparison

@wig  -Thanks for the cable list.  I have never tried Grover Huffman cables of any type but I know many like them and believe they offer a good performance to price ratio.  I have not gone too far down the road of digital cables but I have tried a few USB cables including Curious, Triode Wire Labs, Totaldac, and Network Acoustics Muon.  Of those, the Totaldac seems more organic sounding while the NA Muon seems more incisive and detailed sounding but without any shrillness or fatiguing qualities.  I am using TWL's AES/EBU cable and that seems to work/sound fine.  Sonore wants me to try their USB cable but I have made more traction upgrading components rather than cables so I sort of stay middle of the road wrt digital cable choices.

@cdc - I wouldn't say "last 2 or 5% in sound quality" as I believe these DACs have a larger sonic impact than that, and much more than the difference in servers.  I have had several pretty good servers and none of them made a discernable sonic difference, although I did hear a big improvement in moving to the Sonore Signature Rendu SE streamer.  That discussion gets messy because when you say "server" many believe you are talking about a server/streamer combination.  The thing about DACs is they do sound quite different from each other and while one may not generally be significantly "better" than another, they definitely sound significantly different from each other.  Most people seem to have a type of sound they like, and will choose a DAC that matches that type of sound and avoid DACs that provide a different type of sound.

@bgross - There seems to be a small jam pile of DACs at around $4K.  I had not heard of the Canor from Slovakia, which uses dual ESS Sabre chips and four tubes, but it has received several very positive reviews for how it sounds.  Maybe somebody else with access should do a comparison of all the $4K DACs on the market.

@zlone 

I've been considering the Reuss. I'm curious what, specifically, you'd hope to improve by moving up to the DAC1MK ll.

@mitch2 maybe I'll be that guy? As soon as I spend some REAL time with the Canor I'll toss up some comments. It's funny, I went & listened to it, spoke with the guys at the shop who by the way couldn't have been more chill, and I left with one, lol. The 2.10 was incredible in their listening area but the real test was at home in my own system. It was outstanding right out of the box but my weakness, a NOS tube fixation, got the best of me and I leaned hard into a vintage 6922 upgrade. The reviews are spot on by the way which is what drove me to want experience it

@stuartk I've been considering the Reuss. I'm curious what, specifically, you'd hope to improve by moving up to the DAC1MK ll.

I love the Reuss and at this time I am not considering a change. The sound is very addicting and I just want to keep listening. I have compared it in my system to an Yggdrasil MIB and the original Merason DAC1. I liked it much better than the Yggy, and my previous DAC was a Gungnir, and in comparison to the DAC1 Mk I, I and a friend of mine who did the same test in his system, found the Reuss to be more refined. That’s the term we both agreed was the best description of the difference. As for upgrading to the DAC1 MkII, my thoughts are that it would offer a similar sound, but again, more refined than the Reuss. I have had two people that have heard both say that the DAC1 MkII, might be overly refined and I might like the Reuss better. Not sure what too much refinement would mean, just one of those things that I would have to try and see if I like it. For my tastes, at this time, the Reuss is wonderful DAC.

I wish the new Musetec DAC was in this group of DAC's.  It looks very promising.