Update:
After listening both casually and in serious "sit your butt down in the listening seat and pay attention!" sessions, I can say this DAC makes nice music. I never once had the desire to plug the Oppo back in (well, actually I did, but only because I have 10 TB of music via USB and "only" 1 TB via S/PDIF, so more correctly, I wasn't jonesin' for the Oppo sound after receiving the DAC DAC).
My standard listening source material is:
Rutter Requiem, Turtle Creek Chorale (Reference Recordings)
Bela Fleck Live Art
The Addicts Rehabilitation Choir
Walk with Me
Miles Davis
Kind of Blue
My general notes were that the soundstage was wider, deeper, and closer with the DAC DAC than the Oppo. I felt like I went from the back of the recording studio or venue to about 1/3 of the way back from the stage.
On Requiem, the sibilance (there are a LOT of "esses"!) was smoother and more natural. Good detail, but perhaps a bit less dynamic range. The soundstage was bigger, but voices and instruments narrower.
On Bela Fleck, there was great bass impact--the bass was fuller and more real. Strings on the bass were a little softer than the Oppo, with a smoother attack. The crowd noises were nice--startling, but a little less "real" than with the Oppo.
On ARC (an acoustic minimally mic'd recording with loads of detail), the claps were distinct and distributed across the soundstage. Not as precisely located as another set up I auditioned using Esoteric CDP + DAC through YG Acoustics Kipods. On "I'll Go", there's a sweetness to the voice that was lacking on the Oppo.
The most remarkable thing on "Kind of Blue" was the cymbals--again suggesting that this DAC does sibilance well.
I still don't like the noise when resolution is changed, but Tommy assures me that he's fixed that in later versions. The fact that it doesn't do DSD is also a non-starter for me. The lack of USB is the final nail for me.
This DAC does, however, deliver a sweetness, detail, and musically that is quite nice.
