Need a DAC Recommendation.

as @mesch said, the naive come here and seek recommendations for what’s ’better’, without articulating what that means in their application

the pontus is the warmest toned of all the dena dacs, lots of mid and midbass ’bloom’, somewhat laid back treble, so if you have a lean system, for instance, solid state amps driving b&w’s or monitor audio’s then it could well bring you modicum of body and full tone to the music

otoh, if you have a warmer system lacking impact and speed, say, a typical tube amp driving harbeths or vandy's --  then a chord unit will bring a greater sense of ’life’, rhythm and speed to go along with the lovely midrange tonality

’better’ in high end hifi is meaningful in an ’applied’ sense, more than ’intrinsically’, when you are dealing with quality items

I really appreciate your thoughts and comments jjss49!

You consistently pass along some of the most useful and clearly spoken advice on this forum.  

I recommend Ares II. Today I put back in Qutest and I was not too happy. Chord was resolving but sound was thin. Ares II warmer and fuller but wee bit less resolving like in layering of stage and top end air but Ares more enjoyable to listen to. With Qutest I wanted to turn my system off and call it a day!

  rbstehno1 You're absolutely right.

Toppings makes great products. 

There is a review by Amir that he reviewed the schiit DAC and found some flaws. 

He worked with the company and they made changes to improve their product. 

Facts are facts. 

Measurements are Measurements 

Enough said