A DAC that can make digital sound analog?

@brettmcee
I have a two-box combo, received on loan and subsequently kept: devices come under the unlikely names of "3R Master-time" (reclocker / regenerator/reviver), & "Ayazi Mk-2" (DAC). They are made by a company I’d never heard of before called "Ideon" audio (later found out they had a product called 3R reviewed on TAS).I got these in exchange for my old PS Audio perfect wave -2, so I guess they are most probably inexpensive, or reasonably priced, new.
My digital source is a NAS / music library played thru either a PC/ MusiChi or Mac/ Audirvana, the PC /MusiChi being the better of the two. USB cables are the inexpensive Audioquests.
Amazingly, the whole thing sounds very good!
 Best

+1 for Ayon Audio Stealth or Stratos. The latter being worth the extra if you can afford but the Stealth is also excellent.

Can I suggest trying to audition a Mola Mola dac, either Tambaqui or Makua with dac module. Outstanding dac in my opinion. Also attention to seismic vibration isolation and compatible cabling is essential with high performance dacs. My suggestions here would be Ingress footers and Sablon Elite digital cables.

Agreed on R2R designs. My HoloSpring Audio Kitsune' level 3 makes even compressed mp3s sound excellent, and CDs and high res sound "analog" in all the good ways...

"Now that I can play back 7 1/2 tape in my system, I can hear what is lacking in both vinyl and digital."

This statement begs the question what is used as the source for copying the content onto the reel. Anything except the original studio recordings, which in almost all cases are on 1"or wider tapes, or direct-to-tape microphone recording, will require an intermediate medium, being vinyl to digital. I guess what you’re saying is you prefer the sound of tape just like someone says I prefer the sound of my CDs better after they’re ripped on a hard drive. Its all about what type of distortion sounds better to you.