Dac upgrade

Hi verdantaudio ,
I had the chord Dave dac before I switched to the ayre.
i had got the chord because everyone raved about their dacs. I started with the qutest , didn’t like it and then got the Dave with m scaler . Found the sound to be very clinical . Tried the ayre qx-5 and the sound was much more to my liking . The best dac I have listened to so far with the filters and the diamond output stage . Better than chord, mytek, emm labs, ps audio( all I have listened to in my system) .
i am really curious about the t+a cause the built, design and sound seems to be a diff class.

@newtoncr curious if you ever heard/tried any Bricasti dac? Very musical IMO.

DCS Bartok. Truly outstanding. Read the reviews and comparisons. The road would end for a very long time. IMO

+1 for dCS.

It’s the only DAC I’ve heard that makes me want to change my Naim nDAC/Pardo TXPS. Unfortunately not in my budget at the moment.

I agree with you re the Chord DACs.  Very clean and detailed, but it somehow misses the music.  IMO, obviously. 

@newtoncr As I said, my opinion was worth what you paid for it. Good luck. I am following to see what you ultimately end up with.

I am thinking one of the major differences is the balance of your system vs. mine. I preface this by saying I love Ayre Amps and Preamps and the equipment you have was in one of the best sounding systems I have ever heard.

My system is entirely tube based (Art Audio Conductor and Quartets) which definitely adds warmth compared to the Ayre gear so my system likely does more to offset the somewhat clinical nature of the Chord where the Ayre gear doesn't.

Incidentally, the system I referenced above had Wilson Alexxs as the speakers and an Esoteric DAC. Don’t know the exact model but it delivered jawdropping sound.  Might be worth taking a look at Esoteric.