DAC- R2R, Chip or ?

OP, 

I went with the Doge Audio 7 DAC.  It's ALL TUBE--not a transistor, opamp, FET in sight.  (Although I'm not anti those things).  

I did this for several key reasons.  

First, while I have no problem spending $5-7k on something, I question the evolution of digital. Or better said, I question how much I know about it and where it's going.  So, I want the option to upgrade in time. 

Second, build and sound quality.   The capacitors, wire, soldering, layout are superb in this unit.  We are talking solid, human construction with quality parts. 

I kept the unit because it sounds so wonderful.  I would have paid $2-3k for this machine, but it only cost $1400 or so. 

Finally, I needed something that would display body to the music, holographic imagery, and low listener fatigue.  I auditioned this for several months and kept it over highly rated DACs.  Very, very musical.  

Do your due diligence and best of luck in your search.  

PS If I were to spend $5k, I'd be looking at Chord Hugo TT and Lampizator, amongst many others.  But I don't know your tastes, etc.  

I watched a lot of reviews. Read several articles. Looked into design philosophies. Decided I was going to have hear for myself, because no matter the design, it still must be executed well. Eliminated a few companies for distribution or potential support issues. Eventually I may up my budget to your range, but I figured I’d be better off living with a few different DACs before making that kind of decision.

I have local files as well as Qobuz. I’m still working on room treatments. I like to think I listen to a wide selection, but the mix is probably shifting away from the hard core stuff as I get older.

There are some R2R DACs I’d like to get to and some tubed output stages as well, but I’ve been pretty happy with a Chord Qutest for now. I’m running tubed amplification so I wasn’t afraid of a sound I’d heard described as more analytical or detailed by comparison to some R2R options. Aqua, Lampizator, and Sonnet are all on the short list for an eventual move up. There’s also the possibility of using an M-Scalar with the Qutest, a combo which I’ve heard is a step up from the Hugo TT2 on sound, but without all the additional functionality of the Hugo.

Good luck. There are a lot of great options out there.