It's a one sided thread with no capacity to have a conversation about anything other than the soundblasterX G6 as a solution to everything.
Now come on, that isn't true. What is true is that if it doesn't somecome with form of vss implementation, I personally don't really care, and can get away with anything as long as it's decent. Modi 3 being my personal example. I'll be doing a short write up of the Schiit Fulla and HEL soon too.
The reason I don't stress about DACs is that I personally can't hear enough of a difference between them to commit to plugging uber expensive DACs over bargain ones like the Modi 3. A DAC's job is to convert from digital to analog. That to me means that we SHOULDN'T be able to hear much differences unless you're personally coloring the process. We can talk about extra soundstage and dimensionality, whatever, fine, but general sound should be very similar if not basically indistinguishable. As for my own...
experiences with various DACs, changes have been miniscule enough to be confident that I'd never pass most A/B testing.
For ME, as long as the process isn't totally botched, I'm ok with literally any dac, whether it's $10 or $10,000. I used to use a cheap Fiio D3 spdif dac that was like $25 and worked as well as I needed it to back then.
That being said, I did prefer the ODAC to the original Modi, if only because the original Modi sounded harsh. I think the Modi 3 is excellent enough where I don't need anything more on that front. At this point, the only improvements I'd like are more connectivity. I put more importance on amps than DACs, as a headphone being supplied with enough power for all it's headroom will make more of a difference, than the dac conversion. IMHO. You're free to disagree, doesn't matter to me.
So if you want dac recommendations from ME, personally, I'm the worst person to ask. A headphone is 97% the most important aspect of sound for ME. Dac and amps as long as they aren't worthless can literally be anything halfway decent.
As for the G6 recommendation, it's simple. The connectivity is there, the dac is very good and even measures very well in some forums that are anal about that stuff, and the amp is quite powerful for its size. It's a bargain. So unless you're looking for something in particular, is the easiest recommendation we could give. The even better option for my gaming community would be the Creative X7. It's literally all I'd ever need, and I'm sad I sold mine.
The only reason I sold it and went with a Schiit stack was because this community here thinks we need particular 'audiophile' gear to be taken seriously. That was my concession. I would've been fine with just the X7 instead, which I stuck with for years.
No one would take any of my reviews seriously if for example I had an HD800 and reviewed it off a Creative product. Let's be real. The snobbery is real. They'd be like "OH NO, YOU NEED A REFERENCE $2K DAC AND AMP TO TRULY, TRULY KNOW WHAT THE HD800 IS."
Those kind of people can jump off a cliff.
Edit: to add, when people ask for amp/dac recommendations, 99% of the time, the only answers they're gonna get are whatever people currently have or owned. People love to justify their own purchases to others. It's just human nature. At the very least when I recommend you something, it'll be about what you NEED or want. Want vss with all the inputs, and ability to send vss to your own gear? Get a G6 or X7, literally the only two that can do that. Want some audiophile dac/amp that is just stereo? Get literally any flavor of the month gear on Headfi, Reddit, etc. They're probably gonna be good enough. It's kinda hard to get a bad product nowadays. Especially in the amp/dac dac segment where it's apples to apples most of the time.
Wanna know my fave sounding outdated gear? Amp: Schiit Vali. The original. It was ringy, had some bad hum, and soundstage was constricted, but damn if it didn't sound so damn sweet. Have I owned better? Obviously, but I still think it's the best sound injected to a headphone at the time.
Dac? That's harder, since they all more or less sound the same to me. Maybe the ODAC. If only because it just sounded as expected next to the original Modi which I didn't like the signature of.
I don't own any of these things anymore.