[Cortes]

 
 

1. Mhdt: A good DAC on a budget, a better DAC when it arrives for free.
2. HRT Pro Streamer: A meaty big and bouncy DAC that impresses with its dynamics from a tiny box. The HRT does so many things right that it may be all you need. I could certainly live with the HRT. It betters my Mhdt by a country mile and its cost is more than effective. It’s a steal.
3. Simaudio Moon: This baby is all about the beauty of the upscale upper range. Its about silken sounds and smooth legs, of imagining Jennifer Connelly or Grace Kelly or Mary Louise Parker. The Simaudio polishes your expectations and raises them to deliver a high-relief world of music from less than stellar circumstances.
4. Decware Z-DAC 1. Like the HRT this box is on pharmaceutical-grade vitamins but with heavier workouts and power bars. It’s strong as an ox, deep as the ocean and knows when to get out of the way. Too many audio products waste energy on wrenching out the last iota of detail when they should focus on delivering the music. The Z-DAC 1 is clear-eyed and understands itself. No audio therapy needed. The Z-DAC 1 has no need for rampant editorializing. It’s confident and true.
5. Wyred4Sound DAC 1. This is the final DAC. You need no other. This is the sound of the recordings you love. It too gets out of the way but even more so. Perhaps better internal parts make for its powerful presentation, richness, authority, cleanness and overwhelming detail retrieval. But it’s not 'detail', it’s not 'resolution'. It’s hyper reality of the kind the musician hears before his music is transformed from sweat and blood into product. I don’t understand how Wyred4 Sound managed but they’re holding up the bar mighty high while we enjoy the music.

 
 
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/usbdacs2/4.html