What does your DAC sound like

@mitch2 Just read your post from yesterday.  I don't know how long you have had your new Mojo DAC but have you noticed a difference from the X SE.  From the website I read their where a few changes and some seem more for protection.  Also you said you had a monarch.  I had not heard of that DAC before.  I did notice the chip is the one Ben at Mojo said he was wanting to use the next generation.  What do you do to upgrade?  That seems like a very affordable way to get to a really good DAC.

I recently landed an Audio-GD R7HE Mk3 for comparison to my Esoteric K-01X.  The R2R GD slightly edges out the K01X with USB input from a Sonore Sig Rendu Deluxe, with further gains over I2S input from Pareto Audio’s new single mode FO EN to I2S node.  Couldn’t be more pleased with the change, though admittedly outside the $5K ceiling post-tariiffs.

My experience is for not much money the  Denafrips Pontus ll is a very good sounding dac. In fact I purchased the top terminator model and preferred the sound of the Pontus. However the Holo May Kte is what stopped my search. If you don’t care about DSD the Schitt YGGY is also a good try. 

1. @dwest1023 So you prefer the Holo May over the Terminator Plus.  Do you use any filters or run it in NOS?  What type of streamer do you use?

I am currently listening to a Yamamoto YDA-1 and it sounds very vivid, immediate, and musical. They do pop up used from time to time but not often.