Different R2R DACs

I had the Terminator w latest dsp board in my system for a year.  IMHO it was a very good.  Leaned sligtly on the warmer side, but detail and clarity was spot on.  

I have since gone back to an ANK 2.1 dac.....still one of the best.

Another R2R dac line that i have listened to, that is clean, detailed and neutral is Merason, both the Frerot and the DAC1 models are quite good.  They may fit the bill for your preferences.  

First whomever said R2R DACs are the flavor of the month is completely wrong.  We build both types of DACs  Sorekris R2R modelue and Sabre 32 Bit.  THey are differnt sounding but the R2R are not soft sounding in comparison.  They are definately more musical and less forward sounding.

Part of the problem like most is that you are swapping out DACs they are similiar in design.  To design a componnet that either is tube versus non-tube is the first question.  The most important design feature is the power supply.  We build DACs that have 30lb power supplys for our tube designs.  That is where you get the main differnce in sound.  That is where you begin to get reference sound from.

Stop looking at one feature of any component and begin learning what makes them sound different.  How do you get a beautiful soudning mid-range, how do you get layering, who do you get a big soundstage, dimension, tone, bass definition,etc.

Happy Listening.

I stream Qobuz with Magna Mano via I2S to Denafrips Venus. Very nice clean and detailed sound.

just a word to the wise on getting too caught up in dac architectures as a proxy for what a unit sounds like - it is 100% a fool's game

there are r2r dacs that are forward, there are delta sigma dacs that are absolutely pure and musical sounding, there are dacs using both/either methods that sound dull and lifeless

there are so many elements to the design of a lovely sounding dac BEYOND the actual d/a conversion tech within... sooo many

i have 4 wonderful dacs currently, they all present music absolutely beautifully, if somewhat differently - chord m-scaler/hugo tt2 (fpga/solid state), weiss 501 (delta sigma/solid state), audio note kit 4.1 (r2r/tube), mojo mystique v3 (r2r/solid state) --- each handily outperform others with d/s, r2r, fpga engines that i have owned and moved on from

i repeat - you CANNOT and should not conclude what a dac will sound like by just the technology employed for the d/a conversion...

@metaldetektor

Interesting that you write about the accommodation pricing available to reviewers, especially of the more important journals. That he bought the review DAC means nothing, really. Most of these reviews mean nothing. He writes glowingly about a DAC. It slots into the A+ class. It has to or no one will ever buy one. Consider that there is $1450 DAC in that class. The A+ class which was introduced as the better-than-the-best class. Then a post here that he and a friend bought and soon sold the units having been very disappointed. What a surprise!

The accommodation DAC will soon be sold for profit (due to a great review) and the reviewer will go on to another accommodation unit.

These reviews are not woth the paper they’re printed on. I give much more credence to the consensus of acual buyers here. The only thing I take seriously in Stereophile are the loudspeaker measurements. These can correlate with what you might actually hear.