Thanks for measuring this. I will state that I owned this product for 1 month in total before I returned it. Yes it sounded good, but it is not worth $3k. In fact, when I went back to my D1Se (700$), I barely noticed a difference. I actually prefer the midrange of the D1se. Its possible I have potato ears and that my unit was a 1 off defective unit, but overall I was NOT impressed.
Why did I return it? It had a million and one problems with the USB implementation. I'm not sure if they messed something up with the Amanero board or something software/firmware related is getting in the way, but it kept messing up and required multiple reboots per day. After a while of being turned on it would accumulate large amounts of lag/delay and made playing games unbearable. I'd also frequently hear artifacts after having it powered on for a while. I also tried the VMV D2, which i think is probably not far quality wise than this. I returned it for being overly smooth. My next DAC is going to be the Dac3.
I don't care to be judged for having cheap taste. I'm always auditioning stuff and I have a special place in my heart for things that measure amazingly well, as well as for things that just sound amazing overall. Sadly this is neither. Last month I sold my 4k$ Raal amp to buy an 800$ schiit amp and I'm much happier with the choice. I barely hear a difference. I'm a reformed money-flushing audiophile. I now firmly believe more money doesn't always get you better. This is one of those cases.
Why did I return it? It had a million and one problems with the USB implementation. I'm not sure if they messed something up with the Amanero board or something software/firmware related is getting in the way, but it kept messing up and required multiple reboots per day. After a while of being turned on it would accumulate large amounts of lag/delay and made playing games unbearable. I'd also frequently hear artifacts after having it powered on for a while. I also tried the VMV D2, which i think is probably not far quality wise than this. I returned it for being overly smooth. My next DAC is going to be the Dac3.
I don't care to be judged for having cheap taste. I'm always auditioning stuff and I have a special place in my heart for things that measure amazingly well, as well as for things that just sound amazing overall. Sadly this is neither. Last month I sold my 4k$ Raal amp to buy an 800$ schiit amp and I'm much happier with the choice. I barely hear a difference. I'm a reformed money-flushing audiophile. I now firmly believe more money doesn't always get you better. This is one of those cases.