SW1X II balanced DAC

IIRC the SW1X units have no support for DSD and PCM is limited to 44.1K

@lordmelton According to their website the DAC II Balanced is limited to 24/96. As far as I can see none of their DAC's are limited only to 44.1. All will do at least 24/96 or better. You are correct though no support for DSD.

@willywonka 

I owned the DAC II Special and then upgraded to the DAC III Balanced which I still own. Somewhere in the archives from about five years ago you should be able to find my "reviews". My previous DAC was an Abbington Music Research DP777 which I also still own. I am enthusiastic that they are tremendous DAC's for those of us who do not care about upsampling and alternative formats. My source is an Aurender W20. 

Both of the DAC's referenced above have since undergone design changes-Slawa Roschkow is always tinkering with his designs, much like Justin Weber of Ampsandsound (I own an Ampsandsound Nautilus). 

I would characterize the SW1X sound as "dense and soft" but only in subtle relative terms compared to the majority of DAC's and NOT in an absolute sense. The sound is the opposite of the relatively lean and sterile presentation of the many DAC's that get "state of the art" sum-ups from JA in Stereophile-from the likes of Chord and Benchmark among many others. 

I must caution you that SW1X DAC's are incredibly sensitive to both the source and the choice of input cable. Mr. Roschkow says the same and claims that only his own source components optimally work with his DAC's. I have never tried one of his sources which he calls "transports". But I did experiment with cabling and heard huge sound changes with each, A custom made S/PDIF from Analysis Plus using Silver Apex wire proved best to me. 

I should caution you that I am biased to a certain "world view" as to audio that I have gravitated to after fifty years in this hobby (I started at 16). That view is that artisanal fundamental design and build quality for absolute reliability is more rewarding over the long haul than many flavor of the month designs. My turntables are the venerable Thorens TD124 and Garrard 301 because they simply work, very well. Likewise with the Ampsandsound Nautilus and the SW1X-they are built to last and are very unlikely to ever be outdated.