Higher End DACs


I am looking for a DAC (potentially streamer&DAC) to be paired in a mcintosh system (c1100/611). Its my first foray into digital streaming and I have no need for a CD player.

I see a lot of love for Esoteric, however, most seems to be around their transports? Are they not as renowned for pure digital streaming and/or standalone DACs? I see DCS (for instance) often referenced for standalone DACs - how does Esoteric compare?
ufguy73
perhaps you should consider starting another thread

Good advice, @ufguy73

As the OP, if you reach out to Audiogon Forum Support and request it, they will (usually) delete posts unrelated to your thread. It will mean your flagging the posts. Do it sequentially, so they see the pattern.
Bo - Kindly be respectful of ufguy's request and start your own thread than continue to ranting on this one. Time for this thread to get back to what he inquired about and not your personal agenda
I had forgotten about Métronome Technologie’s c/AQWO DAC. Stereophile has it’s review online now.

"My target is always to make people forget that they’re listening to digital files," [Jean Marie] Clauzel told me the morning after the units were installed. "Some digital equipment is so detailed and so cold; it’s not warm enough and not musical enough. We want a very different product, even if it has imperfections. ... I prefer something that may have imperfections, but that excels in quality, musicality, and an analog feel."

https://www.stereophile.com/content/metronome-technologie-aqwo-sacdcd-transport-and-da-processor
The subjective review of the Metronome was nice but the measurements were not very impressive. The tube section had excessive noise and harmonic distortion and the solid state was competent but didn’t do any better than a Benchmark DAC3. I guess being able to pick filters would be nice.