A warm DAC?

Why not just spend $150 and be happy?

I don’t know, why not?

Toyota will get you the grocery at 45 mph as easy as a Lexus, why buy a Lexus? Status, bling, cause I can afford it. You still drive 45mph to the grocery. If I can’t hear a difference between a $80,000 DAC and a $2000 DAC without knowing which is which then I guess I would only buy the $80,000 dac for status, bling, because I can afford it.

Surprised there's no mention of the MHDT Orchid.  Specifically, @grannyring's modified version.  He's great to deal with, and he prefers warm sounding gear but not at the expense of detail and resolution.  I'm sure he selects and designs his upgrades accordingly.  A lot forum members on here and elsewhere have commented that it has bested a lot of DACs mentioned in this thread.

Fair point. But your determination (or mine) does not become the de-facto metric for everyone. 

I think in this audio arena the most useless term is “always”. I find that almost all absolutist statements can be countered with “it depends”. 
Folks in this hobby mix and match all manners of tube, solid state, Class A, Class D, etc, equipment in an infinite array of combinations and price points. Some are very casual and some approach this pursuit very intently. 
Some believe 100% in the “bits are bits” approach and never waiver from thinking that streamers, DACs, cables, different interconnects, power supplies, reckockers, isolation feet, racks, etc, etc, matter. Others think it all matters. 
In the end what counts is this: do you enjoy the music from your system? Are you ok with the money you have spent to get there? 
  

Audio Note has an interesting design philosophy. They build a component and of course take measurements, record the specs, then they listen to it.
They make adjustments until it is pleasing to the designer's ear. The owner of the company is the first to admit his products, in this case DACs, do not have the best specs when measured by an independent source. But they're doing something right because their DACs sound wonderful, like real music.
And they are coveted by owners who pay high prices for these well designed, well built Dacs containing premium parts. 

It's also interesting to me that when describing a component as full of distortions, that analogue turntables aren't mentioned. The vinyl medium that many prefer to digital is full of distortions and colourations.

I'm auditioning the Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ with PrimaLuna HP integrated. They sound great together! So much so that I'm buying the DAC and an EVO 400i.