Buying a DAC when you can't try it first

Love the discussion! Apologies for being verbose, but...   I too am on the hunt for DAC and amp combo with awesome sound quality and would appreciate any thoughts.  I have a 10x10 ft home office, which I spend many work and after hours in.  So, I have been trying to upgrade my sound, but am not able to invest gazilllions.  I stream Tidal MQA and HiFi via USB from my MacbookPro using Tidal's app.  

I want wide & deep soundstage, clarity, and great sound at lower volumes.  3D soundstage!

Here's what I have so far. (amps will be in a bake off)
Canton Vento 830.2 speakers (very "revealing")
Peachtree Nova 300 integrated (with internal DAC)
Cambridge Audio Azur 851A integrated amp (but no internal DAC)

I love the Peachtree so far, but want to give the Cambridge a fair shot, which requires that I buy a DAC (less than a $1000).  The loser of this bakeoff will be for sale as soon as I decide...

So, For DACs, after countless rabbit hole hours researching, I have narrowed it down to the Penafrips Ares 2 (cannot afford the Pontus) and MHDT Istanbul (cannot afford the Orchid or Pagoda).  Cannot afford the Chord QUTest either. 

I had considered the RME ADI-2 DAC but I am afraid that it would be too sterile/harsh/fatiguing with my Canton speakers... (I had the NuPrime IDA-8 which is awesome, but it was fatiguing and wimpy bass with my speakers unless turned up pretty loud).  So, not a match...

Hence my interest in the power supply of the Cambridge and the Penafrips and MHDT to compare with the Peachtree (class D).

Any comments and advice on this would be immensely helpful!

Cheers!

@bogbeat

I just received a Denafrips Ares II this past Friday, and after two days with it, I’m really liking it a lot. It did not ‘blow my socks off’ initially, but the more I’ve listened to it, the more I like it. In my case the difference between my old DAC and the Denafrips seemed smaller than expected per the hype, initially, but I no longer feel that way after a couple days playing all types of music through it. It’s quite stunning actually in the subtle ways that add up to being a great DAC in many ways, the most important being tonality and making digital sources sound much more musical. Some say analog-like; perhaps, but as a vinyl addict, I’m not sure it competes directly with the magic of vinyl. But that in no way means I dislike it. I do, I’m impressed. It also creates a very nice detailed and spatial soundstage, but with very good definition.

The one thing I think the Denafrips has over the MHDT for you, (comparing it to the Peachtree), is that it has balanced outputs, as I noticed your Cambridge has balanced inputs. I don’t have balanced inputs to my pre, but wish I did, as I’ve read some owners of the Denafrips that say using the balanced connections raise it up another notch over using the unbalanced RCA connections. The other thing the Ares provides is switching between ‘no over sampling’ and ‘over sampling’. And two filters when you select ‘over sampling’. The MHDT, I believe, is strictly a ‘no over sampled’ DAC.

I considered an MHDT DAC myself, but not displeased with the Denafrips at all.

@bogbeat I think you should start a new thread.

bkeske, apologies for the belated response.  Your comments are very helpful and greatly appreciated!  

I may start a new thread as per headphonedreams's suggestion.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I’ll add my two cents, which might be helpful, since I recently went through a similar process. I am running a VTL S-200 amp into a BAT VK30 pre in to a pair of Vandersteen 2CE Sigs. I dipped my toe into the world of streaming with a Bluesound Vault 2i. It was fine and fun. But a year or so later when I demo’d a Chord Qutest dac into the mix, the experience became compelling and satisfying, and I had no problem writing the check.

I’m glad I checked into this thread, because now I am intrigued by the discussion of power cords for the bluesound boxes. I may have to mention one in my note to Santa!
Best, John