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Original Message
RE: "But IMHO there's not much to be gained above about $1000 or so."
Posted by morricab on December 6, 2016 at 06:43:22:
Well, I generally agree that the output stage is probably overall more important than the DAC chip and filter but those are still rather critical.
For $1000 a Monarchy Audio NM24 will give you a pure tube output stage (no op amps...even for the IV) OR opamp output. It sounds as good as anything I have heard up to at least $5k. It uses the late great PCM1704 and DF1704 chipsets. The output is an SRPP design and sounds very good indeed.
I recently compared it to the $7500 Meitner MA-1 and the Resolution Audio Cantata (I have the M24, which has the older...and I think better...PCM63K but the rest is the same) and the Monarchy is in most ways better. The SS DACs have a bit deeper and stronger bass but they fall flat (literally) when it comes to soundstage and image palpability.