Well, I've had the system set up for about a week now, and it's been a very different experience:
The first few days I thought "Wow, this is neat, but I miss the thick/rich sound of my TUBES!!"
then, later on in the week, something changed. I don't know if it was
a) the speakers loosening up?
b) my ears adjusted to the new sound?
or
c) I started focusing on the music instead of the system?
Regardless, at this point I really like listening to music on it and feel an emotional connection to the music. The imaging is REALLY neat, but I try not to focus on that too much as I must look like a crazy-person poised in one spot to get the images "just right"

p.s. decided to send the dac back. going to upgrade to either HALIDE HD or original ISABELLINA DAC.