Which Dac is more "Musical Sounding" ???

Buy a used Kora here on Agon and be done with it.

Happy Listening.

Any Muse DAC beats them all, IMO!

Try the Audiologic MXL beat both.

Kora Hermes II is beautifully natural and musical, with rich harmonic signature (no thin "digititis" here), and at the same time, dynamic and detailed. I would definately take it over any of the MF Dacs.

I can't speak for the Kora having not heard it; but I can very much recomend the A21. I set mine up last Sat. and out of the box it impressed me. The first time I had a sound stage with CD (3D rather than 2D). Very analogue like. I have an all tube set-up and listen mostly to records. I don't think you'll be disapointed with the Musical Fidelity. Also, since it is limited production, if you do decide to sell it you'll probably have no trouble unloading it.

I tried both and found the electrocompaniet ECD-1 was better, so I went with it.

I will agree with the Trivista recommendation. I tried it for three days recently and it is extremely musical, incisive, harmonically rich and it throws a stunningly real soundstage. Now truth be told, I have not heard some of the other dacs mentioned in this thread but, I am sure they are also very good dacs. My recommendation is to try the Trivista. Most all dealers selling MF will allow an in-home audition. Respectable dealers of the other dacs should also allow in-home auditions. Then pick the one that best suits your preferences - even if you pay shipping twice. It will be worth it.

By the way, I used a cheap Pioneer DVD player as a transport and it performed very well. I suspect your Denon will be equally adept at transport duties.