New DACs High End Munich 2023

Should have noted that the Merlot is an FPGA DAC.

I haven't taken the time to look, but a used merlot could be a  lot less than 4K now.

I was surprised why this DAC did not take the audiophile world by storm. Maybe it was a bit too early in the digital world and we were not ready for it then? While some folks were enamored with it, but not a huge following like rest of the Playback design products.

try the Wyred4sound 10th anniversary dac, very analog sounding DAC, one of the reviewers put it up against his VPI turntable with a $5,000 Japanese cartridge and he said it was every bit as analog sounding, costs $4,500 US but I agree I have it in my system and it's the most analog sounding DAC that I've tried.

Milpai Jaguar audio has TA + 200 DAC available open box black or silver.

Milpai, I have a Terminator Plus.  There was a firmware update at the beginning of June.  I was using I2S from a Denafrips Iris DDC because it sounded better than USB.  After the update I2S now sounds very flat but the USB is much improved. And the Iris in not plug and play now, I have to reset the pin out configuration to change between PCM and DSD.

I also bought a used Lampizator Golden Gate recently.  It has a DHT tube output.  I run it thru an Allnic DHT pre-amp, its not too much tubes.  

As much as the TP improved after the update, the Lampizator is more musical.  The leading edges hit with slam and meat on the bones the TP lacks.

FWIW I had a Yggdrassil and W4S DAC2DSD v2.2 SE, neither were as good as the Terminator I had before the TP.