bigfatpaulie
Headphoneus Supremus
Romaz, thanks for such a thorough reply! Much appreciated! And have you heard the MSB Analogue? Is it on the same 'happy-sounding DAC' path as the Vega? Since basically I choose between the Dave / Analogue / or M1 from Bricasti. What I don't like initially from the latter is that it's a bit outdated already and the Analogue is sort of the beginning of the line from MSB which will bother me one day. While the Dave is the latest and greatest of those three. And Aqua is not quite in the same league in terms of appreciation of the brand history if you know what I mean.
BTW I also use the microRendu which I find an astonishing piece of gear!
I've owned all 3.
My personal preference was DAVE > M1 > MSB.
The Analog DAC is more rounded sound than the Vega - it is really smooth and doesn't have the digital grain and harshness. It is closer to something like a DP-777 in its signature, warmer, more lush and relaxed. MSB tuned to the DAC to sound, well, analog, and they did a very respectable job.
One thing to consider is the M1 can be had for a (relative) song and dance VS the other two. Another thing to consider is what else is in your chain. Are you using the DAVE as a DAC+AMP or are you running it into an amp. Are you doing the same with the M1 and if so, is the amp a balanced amp VS single ended. Maybe you can tell us a bit more about your system as a whole.