What the Best Dac have you heard or owned. How could you tell it was that good.

@wokeuptobose i can definitely understand your analysis.  Some people think folks are being snooty but there is a lifelike experience with a lot of the higher end dacs. When I hear voices it feels like I’m there in the hall with him. It seems like I can hear the reverbs of his voice. In FINK’S song TROUBLE IS WHAT YOURE IN.  You feel the voice and the the notes jumping off the guitar in a live show. In the lower end dacs I don’t get that. Some will say the extra 7-20k or more on top of what they paid isn’t worth getting a super dac. For some of us it’s worth it for a lot of folks that’s overkill but when you hear a lifelike performance like that. There is no going back. 

@calvinj   I have heard the Esoteric N01XD, but not in my system. I was also very impressed by it. I am a BIG fan of Esoteric gear. 

@daveyf i thought it was really good.  I like my dac more but the esoteric got a lot right 

@calvinj   I did notice that the upstream gear has a lot to do with the ultimate SQ. In my case, I use a Esoteric SACD player as a stand alone transport. If the server or transport is not that synergistic with the DAC, this can have an impact on the SQ. It does seem that Esoteric DAC's work best with upstream Esoteric transports/servers. Although I have heard some great sound from a Esoteric DAC and a Aurender server. 

@daveyf exactly. I have infigo dac, cables, and amplifier. I actually use a stripped down mini pc with only audio optimized as my streamer and it’s controlled and runs Audirvāna Studio for playback. Great sound.