Some DACs I am Considering-Any thoughts?

I have the Doge 7 DAC and it’s quite good, to the point where I’m surprised it hasn’t garnered much of a following. I have it rolled with NOS tubes and it is very warm, liquid and images really well. I’m an analog guy so I go for DACs that reproduces the things I like about analog.

I can’t compare it to the others although I do have a little bit of GAS for those R2R DACs which supposedly are very analog-sounding.

If you go with the Doge the one tip I’ll give is that it sounds much better to upsample all PCM music to DSD - i suspect it’s because it has a CMOS chip that converts all incoming PCM signal to DSD since the ESS chipset is a delta-sigma DAC. Roon does this easily and it made a big improvement.

I have the Ayre Codex not on your list you should give it a listen       it out performs many I have enjoy this DAC for year I heard many not better just different you do need to go and listen to which ever one you pick 

Enjoy the Music
Tom

I’d go with the Audio Note Kit DAC...had the 2.1...it was amazing...would have the 4.1 if I had the coin.

The AN kit DACs have an amazingly natural but full sound.   If seeking cold and analytical...look elsewhere.

Re. Comparison to the others in the list, I can’t say...I can only compare them (the AN kit DACs) to the many DACs I’ve had PS Audio, ARC, etc. in my system. Right now I’m using a PerfectWave Mk2...to give you a reference.....It slightly bested my AN 2.1...but the 4.1 will be more of the 2.1 goodness and be able to compete with much more expensive offerings.

I doubt that anyone truly has had actual experience with all or even most on your list...so grains of salt.

Disclaimer...I might be an AN Kit fanboy...zero affiliation though.

I can only offer an opinion of the MHDT Lab Pagoda, which I've had for about 3 years now. The sound quality is outstanding. It's neither soft, rolled-off, or tubey but detailed and natural with no fatigue whatsoever. I replaced the stock tube with a WE396A which is much more to my liking. The balanced Pagoda is said to be even better if appropriate for your system. Other DACs I have .. dB Audio Labs Tranquility (TDA1543), Schiit Bifrost Multibit, and Chord Qute EX. Best of luck.