Msb dacs why not alot of postings

(Sorry for the slight off topicness) @nitewulf In the past year I've had a PS Audio PWD & Directstream, Matrix X-Sabre Pro, Shiit Bifrost II, Audio Mirror T3-SE, Lampizator Amber 3, and ifiIDSD Pro in my house for extended auditions (10-30 days)... all except for the Directstream at the same time. Unfortunately despite the great measurements, I didn't like the Matrix. It just sounded bland and involving. I started kind of dreading when it would come up in the rotation. I chose the Analog Devices based Audio Mirror, which makes beautifully coherent, natural,and real music, with the most three dimensional soundstaging of the group. That's the reason I continue to read about high end r2rs. 

@cleeds,

I couldn’t agree with you anymore. But it appears the hobbyist here are under constant scrutiny from the measurement crowd demanding proof.

djones51,

For some folks, the ’better’ defines as minimum cost necessary to achieve audibly neutral sound (to their ears atleast) when playing back the music. They tend to rely heavily on price of admission, reviews, accolades and measurements are the bases of their primary selection criteria.

For others, their interest in reproducing recording’s faithful to the source where other aspects of DAC’s performance are more relevant in determining what means ’better’. The discernible differences in DAC's come from well designed power supplies, properly routed with separate analogue and digital paths, well laid out PCBs, accurate and stable clock, jitter reduction, high quality analogue op-amps, well designed analogue filters, aesthetics (why not) and these are the bits where meticulous implementation of one DAC over another determines why DAC X is better than DAC Y.

Once you are open to appreciate the fundamental differences in the implementation of MSB or EMM Labs DAC’s, you are less likely to question their superiority over the competition.

Hey @dannad --- what is your current DAC? And if you can, please post a description of your current audio chain. Thank you.