NekoAudio

I've also purchased from The Music Room and had good experiences. One of my customers had to go through two exchanges with them once, but in the end everything worked out well.

I've gotten feedback from some people that the LeedH volume control is better than their preamp volume control, even via the Lumin digital output into a DAC. (I haven't tried that comparison yet.) And it's definitely better than the previous Lumin volume control algorithm.

Just to throw my 2c in, the RME ADI-2 Pro (DAC version should sound the same, from what I read) and Soekris dac1541 sounded fairly different to me. So I guess your mileage may vary.

For what it's worth, I found the OPPO Sonica and Auralic Vega more similar to each other than the Bryston BDA-3 to either of them. So in terms of DACs, going with the BDA-3 would be a different sound while going from the Sonica to the Vega would be along the same direction. You're probably already aware the Sonica does use the ES9038PRO while the Vega and earlier OPPO HA-1 use the ES9018, and the BDA-3 uses two AKM4490 chips.

$60 USD for me in California. There is also a surcharge if you use credit card, which is avoidable by using bank transfer.

FWIW, I just got a dac1541 in and I found the filter differences were most audible to me when playing Cups from the Ultimate Pitch Perfect album. I've only had a chance to play a few tracks so far. Does Soekris have a US distributor for their previous DACs? I ordered the dac1541 direct from Denmark.

I had connectivity and reliability problems with the Schiit Gen 3 USB input and my iMac. So did the person who I sold it to. I don't want to speculate as to why, but it makes sense to me that some of the differences highlighted with in the Gen 5 USB PR could be a factor.

Thought I'd chime in here with my own impressions. I purchased a Yggy direct from Schitt. Have had it for about two months now. I compared it directly to the Bryston BDA-3 and the OPPO HA-1. Of course I was also able to compare it to my Neko Audio D100 Mk2, and I have a few other bits of gear around but didn't do critical comparisons to them. I was using the HA-1 balanced out for amplification and Audeze LCD-X in all cases for these comparisons. USB was used for the HA-1, Yggy, and BDA-3. Optical was used for the D100. Transport was my iMac. I found the Yggy's sound to be very clean, but also laid back or veiled. Like everything was kind of recessed. I'm surprised I haven't read this in the many reviews of the Yggy online. By comparison the OPPO HA-1's DAC (Sabre) was more dynamic and punchy, but I think a little less clean. The Bryston BDA-3 has both the dynamics and punch of the HA-1, and I also think it is slightly cleaner than the HA-1. I think the BDA-3 would sound even cleaner and more refined with a different output filter choice; using Dirac Live RCS helped bring out the absolute best with the BDA-3. None of these sound as natural and musical to me as my D100 DAC, like an analog setup, but the D100 is a bit long in the tooth now and these newer DACs have better transient response.

I have been using a Herman Miller Mirra for several years now and still like it a lot. It's about your price range.

Yeah, sorry nothing new. Too busy with so many other things I barely get a chance to do anything except work these days.

Well, you could, but that'd probably be a waste of money. I bet you could theoretically use it for car audio since it's power consumption is so low, but you'd need a voltage converter or to bypass the internal stepdown transformer. Chassis and internals are certainly durable enough. If you do that you have to send photos!

Been a while. Been super busy: we're moving! So, I need to clear out some inventory. I've got a sale going on at the Neko Audio web site for $300 off a new D100 Mk2. (Also, thought I answered forbigger's followup question but don't see it in the thread. Nothing new right now. Sorry!)

Got notified. Thanks.

Happy to hear that, forbigger. It only takes a day or two to do the upgrade. Most of the time will be spent shipping the unit back and forth. (BTW - anyone know why I don't get notifications even though I'm following this topic? I had the email me setting checked in my notification options.)

I had some dropouts with 802.11b but none since I switched to 802.11n.