Great review! I've had my eyes on the Phonitor XE for some time. My birthday is this week, so maybe I need to treat myself....

Happy birthday sacguy231, thanks for your kind words! No way you can miss with the Phonitor unless your appetite leans towards something more pronounced. Btw, fwiw SPL confirmed me that the DAC module on the xe is the same one they use on the Director mkII and the Mercury, with only very minor changes on the circuit. Not the same case with all the other Phonitor models as they sport a simpler version of that module sans the 120V rail analog filter, so unless you are looking specifically for the preamplifier stage there’s a lot of added value to the xe!