This thread is pretty old and was recently revived. If anyone cares to read about my personal impressions I'll throw down. I wanted to get a external for use with my PC and also that could be taken with me when traveling to feed a headphone system, and one for the 2ch portion of my HT.
1. MHDT Paradisea (WE396) (HT only)
2. Diy Paradise USB Monica w/ SMPS (PC only)
2. Peter Daniel’s Audio Sector
3. Ack! Dack 1.3e (HT only)
4. Diy Paradise Monica II
5. Lite Audio DAC-AH
6. Trends Audio UD-10
From bottom to top, I liked the Lite over the Trends because it had much more pronounced and tighter bass, more detailed highs, better soundstage width and depth, and sounded more natural.
I preferred the Monica II over the Lite because the bass was less but seemed more natural, mids were much better very fluid, and it was more laid back which worked better in both systems.
The Ack sounded similar to the Monica II, but the notes came out of a blacker background, and the bass seemed better. Punchier and more of it but not unnatural like the Lite.
The PD barely beat the Ack, they were different but one might not be better then the other. I liked the PD because it had very fast bass, quick attack and decay. The PD seemed better with low level details. The Ack won for highs, and was about even for mids. The Ack was better with poor recordings.
The PD and the USB Monica were very similar also. Bass highs and mids were about the same, soundstage slightly better with the USB Monica. The clincher was noise, the PD hummed and whenever it was plugged in my speakers would hiss a little, not with the USB Monica. The noise was noticeable on my PC rig, not in the HT.
The Paradisea over the PD was just more natural, it seemed to sound much closer to the Jolida I replaced. Voices were very transparent, sounded like Diana Krall was in the room, very spooky. The highs were slightly better with the Paradise, a little laid back which I prefer. Soundstage depth improved, echoes sounded amazing with the Paradisea.
Overall I would easily recommend any of the top 4, they are all very similar. The value nod goes to the Peter Daniels if you are into DIY, I bought mine 2nd hand for $160.
Jared