$2000 Dac

Who in the marketing dept thought it was a good idea to name a company Garlubidor. Just a horrible name! IMHO of course haha. 

I had a PS Audio Directstream mkI which was modified to sound like more like the mkII. My experiences with DACs have been that I'm not that interested in the ESS chips as I seem to be sensitive to digital glare. I have a desktop dac/headphone am with AKM chips and I don't have any issue with it. As much as I liked the PS Audio, I felt that I had an older model which was no longer going to get firmware updates including apparently good ones that went to the mkII model. 

I saw the Hans and Steve videos on the Garlubidor Divinity and it sounded like something worth having at the far end of what I wanted to pay and that it would be my final solution for now anyways. One thing to note is that Hans' review has almost no description of the sound quality because he said that the Divinity sounds just like his reference Holo Cyan 2 except a bit better in the bass. Steve said that the sound is neutral and revealing with no glare which is really what I wanted. 

So, I haven't done any A/B testing between these DACs because I sold the PS Audio one before I bought the Divinity and I've never owned the Holo. Right now I'm running the DAC mainly for burn in trying to get to about 100 hours before I do regular listening. I have done a bit of listening to it and really like what I hear. It does remind me of the PS Audio but it might be even more revealing (can't really tell without a side by side). I think I noticed that the attack got a bit stronger once I put some hours on it but again, that is subjective and hopefully not imaginative. 

From what I've heard so far, I am quite happy with it.  

You haven't mentioned anything about your system.  Are you streaming? Streamers can significantly impact the SQ.  I've had the opportunity to try a few and finally settled on an Innuos Pulsar which is incredible with my Accuphase DC-37 Processor/DAC. In fact the Pulsar is a huge step-up from my former Innuos Pulse.  People will argue that streaming is only about 0's and 1's and are relatively all the same, but anyone who has a great streamer knows better.  The same can be said about DACs

@tyray  If you order directly from the factory overseas, there may be tariffs or customs fees. The return window is 14 days, and the buyer is responsible for round-trip shipping. You can barely break in an R2R DAC within that short period unless you leave it powered on 24/7. An R2R DAC usually requires a minimum of 150–200 hours of break-in. Based on my experience with the Micro DAC, the spatial and ambient cues do not fully reveal themselves until near the end of the break-in period, which is essential for proper appreciation. I almost returned it because of this.

If you purchase from a U.S. distributor and the product ships from a domestic warehouse rather than overseas, you may avoid tariffs or import fees, and return shipping would also be less expensive. However, one distributor offers refunds in store credit only, while the other charges a 15% restocking fee.

I’m laying out all of these “negative” aspects to help streamline your purchasing decision. In my experience, the more potential downsides I put it out there upfront, the easier it becomes to decide to buy the Divinity. It’s a bit of reverse psychology—and I’ve found it tends to work especially well on smarter buyers, at least the buyers think they are smart.

Good luck again, and let us know how you like the Divinity. I’m genuinely excited for you—just as I am for myself every time I invest the time and money in a brand-new product. It always feels like an adventure discovering a new continent.

Fire-water, My system is made up of a Lamm 2.1 deluxe pre and a VTL st150 amp. Played through Vandersteen 2sig3 speakers. I have a Baetis streamer, server. Played through a Luxman dac. Over the years I have replaced speakers, amps, pres. I never replaced the dac or the Baetis. I just traded my dac in on an Antipodes DX3 streamer ripper server. So I have no dac. I have tried so many dacs over the years. It seems they all gave me the same results. That is why I am looking for an R2R or a dac with tubes. I do have a turntable also. I expect to get the Antipodes next week. So I'd like to have a dac ready when it arrives. I stream Tidal through Jriver. I may be changing to roon. May not have a choice.