do i need a new DAC

+1@soix

The sound converges with different topologies as the technology improves. In the end it boils down to taste. I prefer the most natural sounding DACs and the latest round of DACs in many flavours of topology are very close. The Digital “glare or etched” sound is becoming a thing of the past.

Finally , if you have a Roon or similar you can test your DAC at various sample rates. A good DAC will sound identical on all sample rates. Only poorly implemented DACs sound different due to changing filters and changing conversion methodology or changing jitter and distortion which is modulated between the music and sample rate. A good DAC should convert native red book 44.1 equally well as 192KHz and does not require any software upsampling to sound its best. The software upsampling business is the ugly stepchild born from a multitude of poorly designed DACs that sound different at different sample rates (when mathematically they should not!).

i did not like the first Sabre chip i heard as it was implemented in the Oppo 105, the Oppo 205 big improvement. ditto for the first Audiolab MDAC. the new MDAC + uses the Sabre chip but sounds vastly superior to its predecessor. much more musical and warmer, fuller sounding. i was shocked at just how good it is. they also improved the PSU in the newer MDAC+ and this speaks to its larger case. i think in the case of the latest Rega Dac R they have left the upsampling to a minumum since they feel that this has an impact on SQ. the venerable Wolfson chip that is used in the Rega has been around a long time. i have one in my iPod Video and it was considered the best iPod that Apple ever produce. very musical

I just bought a Chord Qutest today, after spending three hours comparing it to the half-as-expensive Audiolab m-DAC+. The setup at the dealer was some PMC TwentyFive 23s driven by a Cyrus amp. The difference was really easily audible on most tracks. Those PMCs can produce prodigious bass... I genuinely thought there was a sub in the room, until I was told there wasn't. But listening at first on the m-DAC+, I didn't enjoy it, the bass felt bloated and the rest of the music seemed overwhelmed by it. Well, plugged in the Qutest, and it was a whole different story. The bass was SO much tighter and cleaner, every instrument sounded more separated, and the composition of tracks with complicated layering suddenly came together as it should have.
The only area where the m-DAC+ gave it any competition was, for example, Diana Krall's vocals, which sounded a bit warmer and richer (albeit less clear) than with the Qutest. However, applying the "warm" filter on the Qutest then brought them close to par on the vocals, while the backing instruments still sounded way cleaner with the Qutest. So, it was a surprisingly easy decision to go with the £1200 Qutest over the ~£600 m-DAC+, without even a slight bit of post-purchase doubts in my mind.
I actually pre-ordered my Qutest over a week ago (with the ability to change to the m-DAC+), and apparently it's still likely to take another two weeks to arrive at the store. Apparently a combination of case production delays and high demand has the waiting list getting on for a month, but it's easy to see why!