Some additional comments here on the LKS (which I have been interested in for over 10 months). First of all, if I were to design a DAC architecture, the LKS actually does almost everything perfectly right. The only 2 things that I have concerns about are the FET based analog stage (I prefer bipolar circuits) and the use of silver-mica compensation capacitors in the analog stages.
FET devices have a warm texture to them that many people love, but I feel detracts from the realness and accuracy of the music.
In my testing and experience, silver-mica capacitors are like super high frequency boosters, but can make the sound somewhat artificial and they do have microphonic problems. However, in this situation, the combination of silver-mica and a FET analog stage could result in great sound. In all my testing, I prefer true film-on-foil polypropylene caps. The Kemet PFR series are the smallest true "film-on-foil" caps that would work in this situation. They are much smoother and more realistic sounding than silver-mica.
Finally, there has been much discussion on the LKS vs Denafrips Terminator. Saying that Denfrips is generally the better DAC. I think it is totally in the eye of the beholder. The Denafrips does have true resists R-to-R circuits. However, two things. 1. I see op amps on the board at the bottom of the resister array circuits. I don’t know if these op amps are the "analog output stage" or if they are doing something else. I’d rather have a discrete bipolar analog stage than op amps any day. 2. They have an excellently designed power supply with massive amounts of small capacitors (for low ESR). However, they chose to use all Elna Silmic and Elna Cerafine capicators here. In my testing, the Elna’s have a very nice smooth sound, but they are just too laid back in the midrange and high frequency attack. It makes the DAC sound softer, milder and laid back / smooth. For many, this can be a desired sound, but I would rather have the resolution of a highly detailed DAC. If it were me, I would load that Denafrips power supply with Nichicon Muse KZ caps instead of the Elna's they have.
In comparing the LKS with Denafrips, best I can do is youtube videos of both (some of them are actually using the same system). The Denafrips, while nice, is going to be too laid back and subdued for my tastes. The LKS appears to do everything right as it does sound very analog and real, but I can’t tell if it has enough attack/resolution until I finally decide to pull the trigger and get one in my system.
In my case, the two possible options are the LKS MH-DA004 or the Krell Vanguard DAC (I totally love the Krell discrete Class A bipolar audio stages). Krell only supports RCA coax input. LKS has RCA and BNC coax, as well as i2s (Pink Faun PCI i2s card in my future?!?).