wait... what? Audio GD Master 7 is about $2000 right? Are you Meridian Explorer 2 with a 10 fold product?
Yes, I was! If you're going to compare, why not compare with the best you've got?
The M7 is my main DAC, and, since I don't have anywhere near unlimited funds, the Modi, Bifrost Uber, and D2 are all sold at this point. I'm working from memory (and notes). When I had those DACs, I compared them to each other as I moved up the chain, working from the transitive property (haha), before settling on the Master 7.
As I said in my post, I had no expectation that the Explorer2 would hold it own against the Master 7, and it didn't. However, the Explorer2 is a very good DAC, IMO, for the price and, especially, the size. It pales in comparison to the M7 on things like "analog" naturalness and PRaT. In terms of bass, mids, highs, soundstage width, etc., it falls short of the M7 in the same ways that the Bifrost and D2 did, as well. The biggest flaw with most Delta Sigma DACs, IMO, is the artificiality of the high-end and the general timbre of the instruments. The timbre still doesn't sound quite as "real" to me with the Explorer2, though no DS DAC has ever felt "real" to me. That said, the timbre is pretty good in the Explorer2, the highs are very smooth and not very "tinny" or artificially "sparkly," to my ears. The mids are well represented and the bass is tight, if not as full as bigger DACs.
As I said, working from memory, in terms of how other DACs compared to each other and the Master 7, I feel like the Explorer2 easily bests the Modi (which had very digital-sounding highs, IMO), and I have no doubt that it would easily hold its own against the D2 and the Bifrost Uber (and I very marginally preferred the D2 to the Bifrost Uber in a head-to-head matchup, despite the Schiit's higher cost). That doesn't mean that the Explorer would be better than those DACs, only that I don't think either would be much of an upgrade over the Explorer2, at least to my ears, which is saying a lot, given the price and form factor of the Explorer2. Once again, though, that's just my impression, and your mileage may vary.
In terms of using the Explorer2 with cans, I'm listening to the E2 with a pair of Philips Fidelio L1s right now and the E2 sounds excellent. I'll be trying it with ATH-M50s and NAD HP50s, among other cans, later.
I still wouldn't mind sampling the Schiit Fulla, but given some of the issues described in that thread with the early run of Fulla's, I'm not in any hurry to order a Fulla to compare with the E2.