I've been interested in the Paradisea for years now. I ended up going for the DacMagic in January of this year. I've been fairly happy with it, but I've always felt that digital combined with all solid state gear can sound a little dry, but I've not heard state-of-the-art digital or solid state. That said, I find that a little bit of tube sound somewhere in the audio chain can make digital sound a lot more pleasing and more "analog". I recently have been getting into headphones, and I've been using the DacMagic with a few different headphone amps and the Sennheiser HD650s. The first amp I tried was the Audio-gd Compass solid state amp. This unit all around was not that great. I then ordered the Elekit TU-882AS tube amp, and wow what a difference. It really helps the DacMagic come alive.
My point to all this is to say that I too would have a hard time wondering if the Paradisea sounds "smooth" because of the tube output stage or because of the NOS design. I have heard that in general, NOS DAC designs sound a bit smoother at the cost of detail. I also have a feeling that a tube output buffer on a DAC combined with an all-tube amplifier might sound a bit *too* creamy.
My point to all this is to say that I too would have a hard time wondering if the Paradisea sounds "smooth" because of the tube output stage or because of the NOS design. I have heard that in general, NOS DAC designs sound a bit smoother at the cost of detail. I also have a feeling that a tube output buffer on a DAC combined with an all-tube amplifier might sound a bit *too* creamy.