W4S DAC

@hsounds Yes, all good advice, thank you, but I am in one of those situations where my listening room is also my living room with the kitchen off to one side.

I put drapes up on the widows to one side and bought some 2' x 4' x 2" thick acoustic panels for what wall space I have and honestly, I don't think it sounds any better than it did before the treatments, it also looks like crap.

Having electrostatic speakers I saw where one reviewer said the sound improved dramatically when he put some acoustic panels on the walls behind the speakers. I I did this in my situation, and it sounded awful, just sounded very flat.

I know people think this OCD Hi-Fi guy is nuts, but that maybe because he goes against the grain of conventional audiophile marketing (wisdom?). DAC’s are not evolving as many believe (or the marketing they buy).

https://youtu.be/EJHgVrdt2Dw?si=UNZjpf3dZdoeeEhq

@jacobsdad2000 LOL, ya gotta love Mickey! Good food for thought, thanks.

I use a W4S DAC2-DSD. It does a reasonable job with the sound.. perhaps not as analogue as an R2R or as future proof as FPGA, but if you're good with IIR filters it can offer a clean detailed top end that plays well with good speakers with extended hf. What it really does excel at (over most others these days) is being a versatile digital hub with a plethora of switchable inputs.. 2 coax, 2 toslink, AES-EBU, USB and I2S. It also has an overbuilt onboard power supply and plenty of gain to be used as a preamp (which I do with an old Pass Aleph.. sounds great that way) and a 32bit volume control. I've kept it around for it's flexibility while still sounding perfectly decent. One day I may add a second DAC exclusively for audio. Maybe a Merason or a Weiss.. but the flexibility of the W4S has kept me from upgrading.

https://www.ni.com/docs/en-US/bundle/diadem/page/genmaths/genmaths/calc_filterfir_iir.htm

@jhw9 sounds good!