how good are the non os dacs?

Alex, there is nothing smeared nor lush about my system sound. Layers of detailed sound are carried riding on a supremely musical sound. My highs cannot get any more airy.

My DAC is a one of a kind built on an Audio Note circuit board.

I changed my mind about the Promethius. Upon studying the board, and
correlating research in DIY forums, I would be very wary of this DAC. I may still
consider buying it, but there will have to be some more positive reading in the
future.

muralman,
as i am no engineer, what seems to be the concern in the design of the dac. i respect your hesitation and would like to hear what you think is a problem.

I am fence sitting right now. Though some of the detractors don't care for it, the TD A1545A chip is OK with me. It is the asynchronous reclocking that gives me pause. Some folks well learned in electronics theory don't give this type of clocking any credence.

I would love to try it against what I have, but this Malaysian company does not take non-defective returns. That means I am stuck whether I like the DAC or not.

Critics of the NOS sound are listening to something I never have had the displeasure of hearing for myself. OS is often grainy, and bright. NOS DACs are not grainy, and the highs can be extended and very sweet. It is true some builders roll off the highs to the benefit of seductive mids, but that is a designer's choice.

i assume that the term "non os dac" means 16/44.1 khz .

there are differneces in sound between 16 bit non upsampling dacs. some use op amps, some do not. some have tube output stages, some do not. the caps used in the signal path may very.

thus there is no generic sound to these dacs. i own three of them and each sound differs from the other.

there is no point in generalizing. just as there is no value to make general statements about other components.

by the way i have not heard any lush or euphonic digital components in current manufacture. if anyone is aware of a very tube-like sounding digital product, in the classical sense, please let me know. i'll buy it myself.