I've heard many of the plug in DACs. I like the Meridian ones best for the usb plugin types, however for just a bit more I got the Music Hall 25.3 DAC and it blows away the competition. I run it in balanced mode and not the tubed rca mode, however most rave about the tubed mode too. It's at that price point that is a spec more than the plug in DACS, but it's so much better. I have a fairly high end system (Ayre integrated and Proac Super towers with MIT MH770 speaker cable and AQ Niagara XLR from DAC to Ayre) and you can tell how good this DAC is. I replaced my Krell Stealth with it as it's warmer and more neutral and that's what I wanted (Krell is for sale ;)). The Shitt Dacs to me have been sterile and not as musical when I heard them in person. Just my ears though. I got a head ache from listening to it, but others swear by it. I wonder how many of those people have really listened to it or just read reviews. There seem to be a lot of good choices out there, but so many DACS test well, but most still aren't musical and that includes many of the 2k DACS also. I wasn't going to spend over 5 bills or so for a DAC when it's about to change to DSD audio I'm thinking. See what differences you hear in the Dragonfly vs the Meridian. If you feel the Meridian blows away the Dragonfly in ease and musicality, then your ear is probably similar to mine. Not sure if your computer based audio needs to be portable or not so that's why I mentioned the MH DAC.
