D to A converter purchase....

I do not have experience with either the Wadia 321 or the Schiit Gungnir Multibit. However, I do have experience with a Schiit Yggdrasil and experience dealing with Schiit as a company (business entity). I'll give them a thumbs up.

No experience with Wadia but have heard the Gungnir Multibit. Note that the Gungnir Multibit is effectively an 18-bit DAC, so despite the ad copy about 'bit perfection' it won't decode those last few digits if you have hi-res files.

The Schiit house sound doesn't quite gel with my personal taste (in the case of the Gungnir, I feel it smoothes over too much low-level detail) but it may prove to be a worthy match in your system.

Note that the Gungnir Multibit is effectively an 18-bit DAC

Not according to Schiit

.........coupled to four precision Analog Devices AD5781BRUZ digital to analog converters for true hardware balancing and 19 effective bits of resolution.

The DAC chip is 18 bit, however, Schiit uses two per channel.

2^18 = 262144
2* (2^18) = 2* 262144
524288 = 524288
2^19 = 524288

Yes, I realize the gain in signal-to-noise ratio when you combine the converter chips that way, but it's still an 18-bit part and will only decode 18 bits worth of data.

Yes, I realize the gain in signal-to-noise ratio when you combine the converter chips that way, but it's still an 18-bit part and will only decode 18 bits worth of data.

This thread discussion is beginning to read a lot like this one :)

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/schiit-yggdrasil-21-bit/post?highlight=2097152&postid=148...