Try both, or three, or four! I alternative based music genre, mood, low level listening vs LOUD, and whatever I’m looking for that, day, night, etc. Integrated tube amps, a 300b SET, a 300b driving 845s and a vintage SS Crown DC300A, a superstar performer in its day, and still. Klipsch Horns, Focal Arias, early JMLabs, Vienna Acoustics and 4 way vintage Infinity’s for the Crown.
DACs include Pontus II fed by an IRIS DDC from a fan-less mini PC and ethernet wired Qobuz. My best sounding combo, detail, expansive soundstage depth, holographic presentation, the Klipsch disappear. A Topping D90LE, one of the highest measuring SS chip DACs ever. Detail, detail, ,detail, but not harsh or fatiguing. Not as expansive soundstage as the R2R, perhaps more pinpoint id of instruments and vocals. Definition of transparent.
Next up is a quad Cirrus chip Topping. Paired with the Crown and Infinity’s is a warm, tight, big sound. Even my older CXN V2 with its fixed upsampling and ancient, by today’s standards, burr brown chips sound very musical paired with the 300b amp and slightly less resolving JMLabs and Vienna Acoustics speakers.
Next up on order is a Musical Paradise MP-DX with ess chips and tubes in the analog output stage. It’ll go up against the Pontus II and my reference 300b/845 amp. Curious how that will compare, will let y’all know. (It was either that or a new Browning skeet shotgun. The DAC is 1/3 the cost! But I’ll probably end up with both before all said and done.)