I was in the same boat recently...I listened to both dacs, on different systems at different times so my impressions could be meaningless.I thought the Musician sounded somewhat disjointed in the mid to upper register. Just something about it sounded wrong. The denafrips to me seemed like it was a better build quality and came across more musical,again to me.....so I bought a Denafrips. Very pleased with what it's doing so far.