I have heard @lalitk 's Merging dac at his house. As much as I like my Denafrips Terminator 2 dac, the Merging plays in a different league. I don't think the Terminator has any liabilities as such given the price, but Merging (and also MSB Reference DAC that another friend has) provides a much higher level of sound quality. It's one of those things that you won't know until you hear them in person. We can only extrapolate so much by reading reviews or looking at graphs. You really have to experience these high end DACs in person, provided the rest of the chain is at par as well. This does not make the Terminator ii (best DAC I've ever owned) worse, but I would never claim that it plays in the same league as a Merging, MSB, Emm Labs, or Playback design. Yet to meet a true giant killer.
Emm Labs DV2 versus Tambaqui
Has anyone heard both of these or better still done a comparison? Which did you prefer?
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A FYI, another company that had an excellent implementation of the ESS chip was Resonessence Labs INVICTA Mirus Pro review | Darko.Audio They are no longer in business as the CEO retired. The principles used to work at ESS and knew the DAC better than anyone. You sometimes see their DACs show up on the used market.
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I have a Terminator and a Tambaqui. Both are state of the art. Both sound lifelike and real, not digital. Both are good, sensible, choices. If you held a gun to my head I would say that the Tambaqui is better, there is just something about its bass that seems more exciting, more tuneful, than the Terminator. But if you had either, you would be a very happy bunny.
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- 80 posts total