I meant to take it off but got busy and forgot about doing it. Maybe mentally I just like the blue vs. the chrome underneath?
Tonight, the DA8, set to DAC-only mode, plugged into the L-2 headphone amp and driving TH900s. (Last night it was connected to an F1J driving HE-6s in preamp mode, for volume control necessity.)
This is a good combo! It still lacks the detail and resolution of the PWDII but it gets close enough to be more noticeably enjoyable. Of course, I've got different cans on so that will definitely have an effect on listening impressions. The HE-6s are definitely no slouch in its ability to present detail though, but the TH900s through the L-2 does sound good with the DA8 as DAC-only. Extension on the bottom end has a bit more bloom and sounds slightly rolled off compared to the PWDII. It's a smooth presentation. Soundstage, as project86 stated in his review, is pretty good, extremely close to the PWDII's presentation. Dead Can Dance's Spiritchaser album has a lot of great tracks to test the soundstaging of your gear and it certainly reproduced it as spaciously as I've heard it before.
Overall, if you don't have PWDII $$ to spend on a DAC, you wouldn't do too bad on this unit. It's versatile enough to handle both DAC and headamp/preamp duties. I'd attribute my listening impressions from last night due to my equipment configuration with the F1J+HE-6 and not having a preamp to compare DAC impressions properly across both my setups.
You can draw your own conclusions from this.