Which DACs are known to be sweet/rich/relaxed?

Good to hear some other folks own an Audio Research Ref CD9se… an incredible DAC that gets the details and nuances in order with exceptional balance and musicality.

Mine has really profoundly influenced the sound quality of my system in all the right ways.

I would recommend an Aurender W20SE streamer… giving you a spectacular and natural / quiet input. Then an Audio Research Reference DAC9 or Reference CD9se. I own the later and had a Berkeley Reference Alpha DAC in my system for several weeks… the ARC was a touch warmer and pretty much just as detailed.

I have been a real fan of Audio Research preamps and phono stages. I just never thought of Audio Research as company that had a great DAC… until my dealer bright one over and said, “listen to this”. When I did… I sent him a message within a minute to order one for me.

These two changes will give you a world class natural sounding front end. I think that will improve every aspect while taking the edge off. If there is any residual brightness.. switch to Cardas Clear Beyond interconnects and particularly a Cardas power cord for your amp.

As I have gained more experience in what music actually sounds like and how to match components to reproduce the emotional connection as well as detail and slam I have moved step by step into more Audio Research tubed gear. I have been able to keep the detail and add the emotional connection (rhythm and pace, midrange bloom) to the music… even in the digital realm. So my digital end has the detail and soul of my great analog end.

OP,

”When a system is highly resolving, it will expose recordings that are bright and harsh. It’s actually a good thing.”

Well, it depends. Highly resolving can mean highlighted details… with it typically come a harshness and noise. The noise is not the kind you hear directly it just is pressure on your ears (higher noise floor). But the accentuated details cover the details in the bass and is frequently accompanied by a loss of rhythm and pace… the musicality / emotional connection.

I struggled with this for years until I was able to walk the very tight line of keeping the details (but not unrealistically emphasized) and midrange bloom and musicality. Over time one after another of my components became tubed. Now my system is really emotionally compelling, has no hint of sharpness, and has all the details with the correct emphasis. All albums generally sound there best.

In my opinion your comment highlights a problem that needs to be solved not a necessary consequence.

I think 5% sounding bad is a symptom that all recordings are being reproduced sub optimally. At least in my experience, as I shifted the overall balance such that the emphasis of different parts of the audio spectrum came in line, then all recordings sounded better and the outliers did not sound shrill or annoying. You could still tell they were bad recordings, but they were not offensive.

Pursuing the high end has an nearly endless learning curve. Thirty years in I was nearly clueless after thousands of hours of learning. Now at fifty years… I hear levels of nuance I was completely clueless of twenty years ago. For instance… this subject… I completely understand… it is a subtle but really important parameter in realistic sound.

Chasing details and slam can be a side trip. My system allows all but the worst recordings sound as good as they can. It took me a long time (35 years) to get off the details - slam path to realize this was not the route to fidelity and real sonic enjoyment.

On the other hand achieving outstanding musical sound can be done with vinyl, CD, file streaming and internet streaming. You can have one or all. The choice is yours… it takes effort and commitment. Happily I have achieved great musical reproduction in vinyl, CD, streaming on my main system and in my headphone system… it can be done. But I agree with @chayro that chasing details is not the way to get there. You have to prioritize the music… rhythm and pace, as well as balance and appropriate emphasis of details.

@secretguy 

😊 Good one. Yep, that can be one way.