FWIW, you may be going about this in an expensive and inefficient way. I, too, prefer to listen to music I enjoy, not just well-recorded music. While it might be possible to find a very warm, forgiving DAC, one size will never fit all. Some CDs might be more horrible-er than others. What I use - and please, no flames - is an EQ. I bought a Behringer T-1951 parametric EQ (with tubes). Connected to a tape loop, I only engage it when the CD being played is unlistenable as is. Instead of settling for one fixed level of "forgiveness" or added warmth, I can adjust things on the fly, zeroing in on the trouble frequency ranges and applying a very subtle cut. It works quite well, even though I may get kicked out of the audio purist club. BTW - Richard Vandersteen told me in person that there is nothing wrong with having and using tone controls.
