PrimaLuna EVO 100 DAC

I have not heard the PL, but since the other commenters brought up some alternative options.... I just wanted to say that both myself and a reviewer compared the Lampizator Amber 3 and Audio Mirror Tubadour 3 SE.  We both preferred the AM.  That same reviewer (@teajay) also preferred the AM to an upgraded MHDT Orchid, as did another user on the site here (@kray).  

I would love to hear more about the PL dac too, but there doesn't seem to be a ton of chatter out there.  Hopefully some folks pitch in.

 @cal3713 Interesting...I'm not familiar with Audio Mirror.  Sounds worth digging into a bit.  I've heard Lampizator's higher end DACs and was curious whether their upper tier technology was trickling down to their most entry level products.  

I took a look at the manual for the PL DAC, which has a more complete set of specifications than the website page provides. The one thing that struck me is that it has a rather high output impedance of 2.7K.

Apparently its outputs are transformer coupled, so the impedance probably doesn’t rise much above that value at any audible frequency (as it probably would if the outputs were capacitor coupled). But still, before purchasing it for use with a preamp or integrated amp having a low input impedance, e.g. less than 20K or so, I would check with PL about the advisability of doing that.

Regards,
-- Al

@cal3713 it's worth pointing out that others, on this forum and elsewhere, have liked the Amber 3 more than the AM Tubadour 3 SE. Seems dependent on ones tastes and system synergy. (I do have an Amber 3 with the new USB module on the way so hoping that I have a positive experience before the trial period ends).

@nquery Totally true regarding system synergy, there's often no "best" out there.  No substitute to hearing components in your own system. Fortunately it's possible to get free demos of both the Amber and AM T3se (and many other dacs)...