First I caution against drawing too much conclusion, putting too much faith in the opinion of another. We each have ears, and more importantly brains of a different upbringing and taste than any another person. I would tell you that the Gungnir Multibit is an improvement over the Director in every way. And at the same time, I would feel silly, judgmental, or conceited to say such a thing. So I think it simpler to take the long route, and explain to you why the Director made its way into my stereo system in the first place - that is how the Director sounds in relation to all the previous DAC options I have heard.
I had been listening satisfactorily to the Denon proprietary sound for many years. They call the proprietary processing AL24 (or more recently AL32). You can read about it
here. For example, there are 8 processors in my Denon AVR-5803, for each of the 8-channels of home theater audio. However, when utilizing only 2-channels, one is left with 6 processors with nothing to do. Instead Denon applies a pseudo-science up-sampling algorithm to enhance the fidelity of the sound. They use 4-processors per channel of audio to handle the requirement of the algorithm. They think it is so fantastic that they do not allow you to turn it off. Except I accidentally stumbled upon a way to turn it off. I connected a Denon DVD source through the proprietary Denon digital connection into the Denon A/V receiver. The source acts in this mode only as a transport, and the receiver acts as a DAC. Both the source and receiver can apply AL24 processing, in stand alone. But when connected via the proprietary digital cable into a more capable AL24 processor, the source turns off its AL24 processing. If you connect the source via RCA cables into the receiver, you can thus bypass the AL24 processing and hear the native Denon DAC.
This bypass of the AL24 become my first DAC upgrade. My girlfriend, who has ears that apparently work much more quickly than mine, simply called the original sound (AL24) digital and the new sound (RCA) not as digital, and thus better. I still listen to AL24 on rare occasion, like when friends come over, so I can explain to them why I bought a DAC. There is a distinct "ringing" sound on top of the original music. It's like when you turn up the sharpness too high on a modern television, and you actually add noise to the signal. In comparison to the Meridian Director, there is definitely no ringing due to its up-sampling process. My girlfriend has heard the Denon up-sampling, a Sony PS3 that up-samples, and even an external box dedicated to up-sampling. She called them all digital, but neither she nor I can hear the up-sampling in the proprietary Meridian process. The Meridian adds nothing that my ears perceive as added noise - it just makes the sound easier, larger, more depth. Oh, and the Denon sound, without the AL24, was cold to my ears. It was an upgrade from AL24, but just nothing to write home about.
My first real DAC was a Peachtree DAC-iTx. I got it because it had Coax, Toslink, and USB inputs, all at a reasonable price. It was a definite upgrade over the Denon, but it did not really do anything for me. Also by this time I was starting to experiment with the transportable USB DAC, such as the DragonFly. This was hardly an improvement over the DragonFly. And by the time I purchased the Schiit Fulla and Meridian Explorer, it was bested. Granted I still had a headphone amplifier that I hated (my only amplifier, so I still used it). But even in my main stereo system, the Peachtree wasn't anything special. Respective to the Director, it simply does not provide a lot of necessary detail of a high end DAC. It stayed around until it was replaced by my first Sabre DAC.
The Oppo BDP-105 seemed to be a dream come true. It had clarity of a kind I had never heard before. The dynamics were also good, almost too much so. Let's just cut to the chase - some Sabre implementations will jab you in the ear drums. This was a good DAC, until I tried to listen to it for any length of time. I just got fatigued too quickly. There is no fatigue from listening to the Director, and I think that is the signature quality of a good DAC.
Enter the last remaining DAC, and the only DAC I have not yet given back to the eBay gods. The Schiit Bifrost Uber is a good DAC. I personally would place it at the same level as the Meridian Director. They both do everything quite well. What the Director does particularly well is likely to be a weakness of the Bifrost. The opposite I feel holds true too. And as such, the Bifrost became my go-to for headphones and the Director became my go-to for speakers. The Bifrost is holding on only because it is my go-to for headphones (the Gungnir replaced the Director for speakers) and I'm holding out hope for an upgrade from Schiit later this year. But again, the USB DAC keep getting better year-by-year. I am hoping for good things from the CEntrance DACportHD, and have heard good things from the Apogee Groove and LH Labs GeekOut v2 (almost afraid to go back to the Bifrost after hearing the GeekOut). Back to the Director! The Bifrost is more forward. The Director is more reserved. The Bifrost has more of the surface detail. The Director has more of the spatial details. It's the space that won me over with regards to using it in my speaker setup. The height, width, and depth are just immense, and really fun for me a 2-speaker setup.
Now if you can imagine a DAC that does all these things, you've got it! The Gungnir Multibit sound seems to stop my beating heart sometimes. It has the ease of an up-sampler, but it doesn't up-sample so there's no "digital" sound or loss of any information. It has warmth. It has detail. It has the little gritty details. It has the big airy details. It has an immense soundstage. In fact, sounds are now appearing out of places (and in songs) where I did not know they existed. And there's a new darkness, when the music stops, that often stops me - hence the beating heart.
Still I warn you that the upgrade-itis can be a miserable thing. I just sold a DAC that I very much loved. And I've already heard the Yggdrasil (at the time my DAC was only 3 days new). Yes, the Yggdrasil is a better DAC than the Gungir Multibit. Try the Chord DAC, if you have the funds. But do use your own ears. The Director is a great DAC.
