Solid state DAC under 12K retail preferably with ethernet

Sorry for the misunderstanding. For comparison I used the N 10 fed into the Empirical Audio Overdrive SX (using a Stealth Varig 16 coaxial cable). At that time my regular set up was the mac mini/berkeley alpha fed into the overdrive sx. For several reasons I abandoned the overdrive sx and replaced it with the M1 gold edition. The M1/ethernet is far superior to either set up in terms of convenience and more importantly sound quality.

I would hazard that the shift from USB convertor / fixer to Ethernet is part of the upgrade you are experiencing. I heard the same going from the OffRamp 5 and USB to Rednet Ethernet.

Going back to the Davinci comments, I would also hazard that is the natural sonics from a good NOS design with no filtering and chip logic, i.e. straight through, no messing.

Half of these subjects become over compacted by peoples obsession with data conversion to DSD or upsamplng. If you stay as resident sample rate on a true NOS DAC, it sounds more natural anyway to me. Ditch the messing around with the file, just feed the DAC as it was intended, i.e. same resolution.

The possible 'improvements' in sound by messing with the data rate may help with some DS designs, but ones I have tried just make it worse IMO.

From Briscati:
"Roon Ready is in the final stages of the process for the M12 and we anticipate its completion soon. I’ve been testing the Roon code myself and it works great. I look forward to hearing from. "

@drstarbug32 
Do you know if the gold version is better than the SE version sonically?

It looks fabulous for sure, but wondering if the added $$$ also translates to better sound.

PS Audio DirectStream with Bridge II. I know it's quite a bit less than your max budget, but honestly, it's that good.

I auditioned the SE version and thought it was outstanding.  Fortunately a friend of mine let me audition his gold version and although I had only a few listening hours it definitely had a more refined and natural sound.  Four months down the line I have no regrets in purchasing it.  Yes, it is expensive, but I have come to realize that in a very real sense it is also a bargain.  With the built in ethernet capability you do not need to purchase a separate network player as well as expensive cables.  The sound achieved with the network player is far superior to using a computer source and from my experience much better than using the Aurender N10.  That alone saves you $8000.  If you are considering the Limited  (gold) version i urge you to go for it...you won't regret it.   Aside from the unit itself the customer support is excellent.  Also upgrades in software and hardware are significant and cost wise very reasonable.