Shadorne: Thanks! This was my first standalone DAC, so I had no previous experience to rely upon-- only what I read online or heard for myself. I frankly didn't know what such a component might contribute to my system.
There are certainly more DACs that I could've demo'd, but as it was, I ended up spending about $500 to ship 3 DACs back and forth, which is not an inconsequential sum in my case.
It helped that the two others I tried out were, in my system, quite extreme in their presentation; one starkly analytical and the other overly weighty and congested. To be fair, it's possible that I could've discovered how to make either of them sound good, but due to their pricing, I couldn't have afforded to do much in that regard. La Voce's price ($3000) gave me the leeway to afford the Empirical gear, which made all the difference.
How I ended up choosing to demo La Voce after the Metrum and COS DACs, is too convoluted a path for me to remember, let alone describe, but I'm sure glad I did!
Thanks for all your comments and suggestions.
There are certainly more DACs that I could've demo'd, but as it was, I ended up spending about $500 to ship 3 DACs back and forth, which is not an inconsequential sum in my case.
It helped that the two others I tried out were, in my system, quite extreme in their presentation; one starkly analytical and the other overly weighty and congested. To be fair, it's possible that I could've discovered how to make either of them sound good, but due to their pricing, I couldn't have afforded to do much in that regard. La Voce's price ($3000) gave me the leeway to afford the Empirical gear, which made all the difference.
How I ended up choosing to demo La Voce after the Metrum and COS DACs, is too convoluted a path for me to remember, let alone describe, but I'm sure glad I did!
Thanks for all your comments and suggestions.