[lothloriel]

Hello head fi
I've posted this on another forum, but wanted to see what people around here thought:
 
I'm in the market for a DAC to pair with the aforementioned headphones and amp (Audio Technica W1000x and a Yamamoto HA-03)
 
I've been reading around and it seems there are many highly recommended options out there and I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with a similar kind of system matchup.
 
The toplist list i've currently got (in order) is:
 
Musical Fidelity M1 DAC
AudioLab MDAC
Cambridge Audio Dacmagic Plus
 
Can anyone who has experienced any pair or more of the above highlight any idiosyncracies either between the dacs themselves or with similar system matchups (high efficiency headphones + tube amp); or is it essentially a non-event to compare the above and the difference is between apples and apples.
 
The budget i'm willing to extend to is $1000AUD / $900USD, but less is more and i'd like to keep the cost down within reason.
And i'm wondering if there is any significant reason to get the MDAC over say the Dacmagic which costs, relatively, quite a bit less.
 
I'm open to any suggestions I can research further!
I also do not consider the DAC having an inbuilt amp as any incentive to purchase, such as the dacmagic because I will never use it.
 
And if it's worth anything, i'd profile my listening as: ambient, female vocalist, synth/electronica, shoegaze, folk, jazz, funk, instrumental.
 
many thanks

 

[telecaster]

Try to have a listen to the Meridian Director DAC. It have apodizing filter that gives a analogue like high resolution type of sound.