Hello dvdgreco! Emotiva makes a remarkable deck for the $$. Very smooth and musical. I'm a musician and know how instruments really sound. I've bought and listened extensively to Sony, a couple of those bug named thumb drive sized plug ins, SMSLs, Meridian, Pre Box, and quite a few others. I really liked the Sony, but when I tried the Emotiva (there is only one model) - wow, clear winner! I use a homebrew passive preamp, Starke Sound power amp (highly recommended) and Magnepan LRS (and LRS+) with crossovers from GRS labs and DIY subs. Super transparent. On the Messiah recording from the Belgian orchestra with four German soloists, you can tell the wall behind the orchestra is made of bricks. That's transparent! If you can spend thou$ands on DACs, spend it on cruise tickets to places where you can hear lots of live music. Keep smiling!
What does your DAC sound like
I’m in the market for a newly used DAC, based on reviews I’m considering the playback designs Merlot, Vermeer, Grimm mu2. I prefer a well balanced sound more analog like. I hoping that user experiences with these dacs OR others that might fit the bill will respond
cheers