dacs that I have had in my system - a listing

for fixed output dacs, i would put a few i have had in the same sonic league (or very close) as my favorite three already covered, i could easily live with any of these sonically - i will make a few comments on the sonics of each

-- audio note kits dac 4.1 -- for a tube dac, very saturated and surprisingly spotlit sound, rather forward treble and excellent drive, to go along with terrific imaging... did note just a touch of sibilance and splashiness, but this likely cured with carefully tube rolling

@jjss49 thank you so much for this extensive comparison! I am seriously considering building an ANK DAC 4.1 to go with my all ANK system. I know their house sound well, but am wondering if I would be missing out on a more modern DAC.  I would love your comparison between it and the better Denafrips units you’ve tried. How does the resolution, micro-detail, and bass compare? Do you feel like there is anything that your other favorite DACs did better that this fell short on?

Where does the Gustard R26 falls in the below $2,000 range? What would be your top choice in that segment?

r26 is excellent, a top candidate in its price range, especially in light of its all-in-one feature set ... streamer (i use roon) is excellent though i felt using it as a preamp with its internally adjustable volume slightly diminished the quality of the sound - definitely a top choice for excellent all around sound with a clear open top end without bringing the treble too prominently forward

a softer sweeter rounder sound would be gotten from a modded mhdt tube buffered dac, and an even more incisive, more holographic sound can be had with a chord qutest, although that also brings a slightly leaner midband - all this depends on system synergy for what would be ’best’ for an particular user

I would love your comparison between it and the better Denafrips units you’ve tried. How does the resolution, micro-detail, and bass compare?

i used the ank 4.1 le with stock tube set, i was surprised by its quite energetic presentation, with an open somewhat forward treble... resolution was very good, on par with a denafrips pontus but not quite as a clean as a venus 2, to my ear, and the ank had a bit higher noise floor (rca outs vs xlr from denafrips) .. mids and midbass on all were magical though deep bass tunefulness is superior on the denafrips

my issues with the ank was (mainly) its huge form factor (it is a really big box, i just did not want that long term) and the fact that its input card is limited and cannot handle higher res content (it sounded very nice on all music it played, this was a futureproofing thing for me, as i thought about it at the time)

if one commits to this unit, i suspect one can roll tubes to further improve its sound signature, if not its slightly higher noise floor, but i never got that far, as much as i thoroughly enjoyed how it presented the music

This is a great thread and good recommendations included, thank you @jjss49 - you have a great system and so much experience.

I like the high ranking for the Qutest and R26.

How did you like the Eversolo master edition?

Have you ever tried a Benchmark 3?

How did you like the Eversolo master edition?

Have you ever tried a Benchmark 3?

haven’t tried a current benchmark dac since this wave of dac trials starting 2020... last was a model 1 many years back... definitely a clear clean lean sonic character iirc

eversolo master is a very nice high value piece, dac section to my ear is classic ess sabre sound, forward (but quite clean) treble, clean/clear midrange, slightly dry bass but excellent transient resolution overall, somewhat narrowed and foreshortened soundstage compared to higher level units -- that said, for the price it may be all that many would need in good, mid level audiophile systems

i used the ank 4.1 le with stock tube set, i was surprised by its quite energetic presentation, with an open somewhat forward treble... resolution was very good, on par with a denafrips pontus but not quite as a clean as a venus 2, to my ear, and the ank had a bit higher noise floor (rca outs vs xlr from denafrips) .. mids and midbass on all were magical though deep bass tunefulness is superior on the denafrips

@jjss49 thanks again for answering all my questions. It’s rare that someone has compared these DACs directly. Did you feel one outperformed the other sonically? Were there any areas where the ANK exceeded the performance of the Pontus/Venus? If you were to recommend one on its sonic performance alone, which would it be?