If this post ends up as one of the last ones before the thread locks, I want to say THANK YOU to Gary.    I think your generosity and sharing of your dollars, time, and impressions with the community is impressive and admirable.    I have already ordered (and received) my Emotiva DC-1, which...

Gary - Happy New Years. Thanks for all your hard work. This thread is a rare treat.

I just passed the "identify each DAC in the picture" test. Does that mean I spent too much time on this forum? Seriously, I hate to ask this (so, maybe I just shouldn't), but now you have Yulong DA8 up and running, would it be possible to post some initial impressions?  The reason is that...

+1 for the Benchmark DAC 2.   This is shaping up to one of the best threads ever. I am in the market for a new dac in this range, and I pretty much plan to get whatever comes out as the winner.    Thanks Gary.

The Mytek 192 looks like a fine DAC, but I don't think it has tone controls (bass, treble, loudness, etc.).

I am looking for the exact same thing, but without any luck as well.  To me it would be obvious to put tone controls on a DAC.     Dacs are increasingly used as pre-amps (that's how I am using my DAC1, with various digital inputs, and feeding straight into my power amp). This set-up works...