Does a Tube Dac make sense?

Hi @dletch2,
Okay, now I understand your reference point. We will respectfully disagree. Each of these DACs has their own sonic character and aren’t in my opinion "neutral" and bereft of sonic signatures.

Benchmark, I’ve heard only under show conditions on 3 seperate occasions. However each listening session I found the sound to be consistently lean and analytical. This DAC is often touted as the paragon of neutrality (With the prerequisite stellar measurements). I just hear it differently. Some will agree with me and some will not.

Same type sound quality with the Chord Dave(Haven’t heard the Hugo or Qutest). Mola Mola heard twice under show conditions (With other Mola Mola components). My listening impression was dry, clinical and analytical.

Heard the stock Oppo in a friend’s audio system compared to a  Modwright version modified utilizing tubes. His modifiefded DAC was substantially more natural sounding and realistic. Stock Oppo was 2 dimensional, leaner and lacked harmonic overtone richness.

Heard the Holo Spring DAC (Loaned to me) in my system. Actually pretty good sounding I thought. In direct comparison to a Yamamoto YDA-1a DAC the latter was more open, dynamic and had fuller tone and body of human voice and instruments. Definitely more emotionally engaging presentation.

I haven’t heard the RME DAC.

There will be no consensus with my listening impressions. Individuals hear and perceive differently. No getting around this fact.
What some listeners interpret and declare to be accurate, neutral, clean, lacking an audible signature is sterile, dry, clinical and lacking musical connection to others.

What some listeners perceive as full bodied, tonally rich, authentic reproduction of timbre, harmonic overtones vivid instrumental preservation is to others simply euphonic/pleasing colorations. "Never the twain shall meet".
Two polar ends of listening perception and ultimately preference.

I recognized this long ago and happily accept it for what it is.
Accurate/neutral crowd versus the organic/natural crowd. I firmly reside in the latter. High End audio accommodates (Plenty of choices for either crowd) both with welcome arms 😊.
Charles

@detch2
"It is almost impossible to extract the sound of a DAC from other things in trade show or dealer. The speakers and room dominate the sound. The comparison you did at a friends, different DACs, same systems is the best way to go. ",

Agree, but it is an impossible task to hear "every" audio product in your own or very familiar audio system. That’s why audio shows exist (And dealer showrooms). they have limitations but are better than no listenig exposure at all. Attending C.E.S AXPONA, RMAF etc. has been very informative and worthwhile for me. Manufacturers want you to hear their products. Otherwise they all would just do a silent static display.

You can often get a pretty good general impression of components/speakers in show and showroom environments. At least that’s been my experience over the years.
Charles