This may or may not be helpful to you, but I owned the Manhattan II for about 6 weeks and thought it sounded great. It allowed me to love digital music (I have put most of my resources into building a class A analog set up in the past 5 years).
The unit stopped working so I sent it back to the dealer with the plan of either getting a brand new unit in exchange or having that one repaired. I didn't want to wait 6 weeks to get it back so I asked them to send me the Brooklyn DAC+ to listen to in the mean time.
I must say I do not miss the Manhattan. The Brooklyn (to me) sounds 95% as good as the Manhattan did. I use it only as a DAC, but the Brooklyn has a very good headphone amp and phone amp built in. I might try these features some day but as far as the DAC goes I'm very satisfied. At a third of the price of the Manhattan, I'm blown away.
My advice is to find a dealer you can buy from who accepts returns. Music Direct is great in this regard. No restock fees on returns within 60 days but you do have to pay the return shipping.
Best of luck in your quest!
The unit stopped working so I sent it back to the dealer with the plan of either getting a brand new unit in exchange or having that one repaired. I didn't want to wait 6 weeks to get it back so I asked them to send me the Brooklyn DAC+ to listen to in the mean time.
I must say I do not miss the Manhattan. The Brooklyn (to me) sounds 95% as good as the Manhattan did. I use it only as a DAC, but the Brooklyn has a very good headphone amp and phone amp built in. I might try these features some day but as far as the DAC goes I'm very satisfied. At a third of the price of the Manhattan, I'm blown away.
My advice is to find a dealer you can buy from who accepts returns. Music Direct is great in this regard. No restock fees on returns within 60 days but you do have to pay the return shipping.
Best of luck in your quest!