R to r dacs


I was completely taken by the sq of the Aqua hi fi la scala dac during a demo.  Even with a discount the price is out of budget and would have to add a streamer as well
I have been following multiple impressions of direct to consumer units such as Denefrips pontus, audio gd 7 and Holo May.  Anyone with experience with the Aqua hi fi and the subsequent dacs?
TIA

tennisdoc56
@calvinandhobbes Thanks for that review. Before I decided on my Pontus II, the Qutest was the other top contender based on research without the opportunity to listen to it. Your description of what you hear with the Pontus echoes my own experience. You did a great job explaining in detail much of what I'm hearing. Cheers,
Spencer
Anyone with experience with the Sonnet Morpheus that can chime in on how it compares to the Aqua or some of the others previously mentioned? It’s similar to the Aqua in that it’s also R2R with an FPGA, but I’ve never actually heard either one. 
You must use a Stereo receiver .  only reason is  you seemed worried the DAC did not come with a server .  Go out and Buy a combo Server DAC  be done with it   Why Horse around. 
Hi All,

This seems to be pretty much a thread about $2,000 to $5,000 DACs. 

I have been researching in that price range as well and have been considering Bricasti, Metrum, Mojo Audio, and Schitt.

However, just to try it, earlier this week I got the last Soekris DAC 1421 that Mod House Audio had in stock. Same as the 2541 but no balanced outputs.

I am quite surprised how good it is after about 50 hours of being powered on. My old DAC is a Theta ProBasic III and I think it is a very good DAC. However, the Sorekis provides more detail without being bright. I can hear the sheen on cymbals better and the bass seems a bit better on the leading edge of notes. Overall, it provides a deeper soundstage.

At the least, it has convinced me I should get an inhome audition of anything else before parting with big bucks.

Only 899 dollars....... 
All of the soekris units sold.  I’m down to the holo May or the audio gd r7.  Anyone heard these two units?   I know the measurements on the R7 are t great but sq in the end is what I’m going for