DAC question - is music streamer DAC better than mcintosh DA2?

Well, up until @podosound, this love fest for DA2 had me totally convinced. I have a C47 with a non-upgradeable DAC section. Amp is a MC312. I stream from an EverSolo A6. I’ve been looking to upgrade my DAC choice and was thinking of spending $3-4K.  The MDA200 is...well, $4K.

I love the idea of that nice, clean McIntosh façade in my rack, if the DA2 is a comparable choice at $4K. The upgrade option McIntosh provides is really appealing.

Podosound, what is your input to the DA2? Are there compatibility issues with the DA2 with any particular streamers?

Let me start with…   this is only my first hand experience with the equipment I have.  There are others on the forum with MUCH more experience than me and could probably share better insight.  I.e.just my opinion, your mileage may vary.

I compared the streaming Qobuz from my iPhone 15 pro thru a cheap insignia USB C to USB adaptor to my AQ Dargonfly Red DAC to a BlueJeans 3.5 to RCA cable into the unbalanced input on the McIntosh C2700 vs the same Qobuz/iPhone 15 to the DA2 using an Audioquest Cinnamon USB C>B cable.  The Dagonfly was better in nearly every way.  Better soundstage, musicality, vocals, string instruments.  The was most noticeable was the vocals being more forward instead of lost behind the instruments at the back of the stage.  The DA2 may have done a slightly better job of creating space between each musician/instrument but failed in all other areas.  It was not an enjoyable sound nor did it sound “realistic”.  It felt like listening to speakers instead of a performance.

I recently got an Audiolab 9000N streamer.  I feel its DAC performs even better than the Dragonfly (not surprising given the jump in cost) but the difference is incremental.  Surprisingly, the Dragonfly Red is probably 70% of the Audiolab.

I also tried streaming digital from Audiolab to the DA2 and got the same results as previous.  

I am just not happy with the DA2 in my C2700 preamp.  It could be this unit, my ears, the room, cables, I don’t know.  Regardless, I had much higher expectations for the McIntosh DAC.  Before buying the Audiolab streamer, I considered a Silent Angle streamer to stream digital to the DA2 but, based on the initial experience, I chose to get a streamer/DAC unit.  I’m glad I did.

I have not experienced any compatibility issues with the DA2.

Thank you for sharing your experience @podosound. 
 

i used hifi rose 150b and it’s just next level in terms of sound quality. 

but i had to return it because it would skip tracks. 

hifi rose has admitted the faults as well. 
 

i received the node icon and it is no where close to the same sound quality and i am bummed out. i will let it break in and see what happens. 
 

i also returned the MA352. The MA8950 is coming soon to go with my electa amator 3. @oddiofyl - isn’t this combo what you have and liked? 

I just replaced my C47 with a C53 with the DA2. Both my wife and I agree the DA2 sounds better than the DAC in my EverSolo. But...

Sending digital to the DA2 from the A6 I get the silence at the start of new tracks, clipping the first second or so of each track, which is terribly annoying. I get the same thing on coax, optical, and USB. I understand this is to avoid clicking or popping when the sample rate changes, but I don’t get any of that using the EverSolo DAC and outputting analog to the C53.

anyone else experience this? any idea how to solve, short of going to Roon and building in a silent signal at the start of every track?