I got the Sharp's output plugged into my Gaincard in lieu of its own amp. On the Sharp's amp, I got a Michael Wolff Carbon Silver powercord. And, the Gaincard is driving a pair of Carolina Audio JTMs with 47 OTA speaker cables. My usual digital front end is a Parasound belt drive transport and a Nixon Dackit with 3XDC PSU.
I would say the sound quality is very good. With the Sharp driving the Gaincard, the digital sounds somewhere in between the CI Audio and the Nixon in terms of smoothness. The Sharp has more drive than either dacs, so it definitely fills the room with sound better. I'd say the main strenght of the Sharp lies in the highs where you can hear close to holopgrahic layering and soundstage. But, the lows sort of poop out with a midbass boom, and this sort of muddies up the highs.
I got about 30-40 hours on the Sharp so far. The boomy might go away with another 40-50 hours.
For those who also own the Sharp, I would like to hear how it sounds as a CD/Pre when hooked up in your "big" system too.
