Mid-priced warm sounding DAC?

Three weeks have passed since first listening with the Audio Mirror D-1 NOS DAC. This DAC uses four NOS DAC chips in parrellel per channel. During these few weeks, the sound has grown warmer and sweeter as can be expected with burn-in. It is a very attractive in appearance: gold body, spiked feet, a small (and not too bright) LED light of dark turqoise blue. Designed by a engineer who builds tube pre/power amps, this DAC sounds warm and open in the midrange, yet the bass has weight and power and clarity that work well with a solid state amp (I use a Gainclone). It has great image presence, with depth and width and heigth: and sometimes an image in front of the speakers, a sense of which I never had heard before. Actually, and surprising to myself,I not yet detected any sins of commission, nothing it does wrongly or weakly--so rarely have I ever found a piece of audio gear to be so completely satisfying, so right. Presently, this DAC, at half a grand, seems to be a bargain. Liking this DAC so much, I bought a second one.

Forget about upsampling vs non-upsampling and get a DAC that reclocks the incoming data stream, because timing jitter on the SPDIF input has a far more detrimental effect on the sound quality than the DAC technology.

Or the alternative is to get an external jitter box, like the Monarchy DIP to go between the DVD and the DAC. Only $100 used, and can make more difference to the sound than upgrading the DAC.

By the way, what does the rest of your system look like? What transport are you using? What is your room like? What are the acoustics like? Are your speakers toed-in or do they face straight ahead? The key to curing the brightness in your system may lie elsewhere in your system than a new dac.

Thanks again to everyone who has offered help and suggestions. The Audio Mirror looks pretty attractive; I’ve been reading good things about it.

Well, my system has been built on a low budget. I know that there are a few elements that are responsible for some of the brightness. My amp is an NAD C 340 integrated, and currently I'm using an NAD T 532 DVD player for CDs, and a Sony DVP-NC685V for SACDs. The NAD sounds MUCH better on CDs than the Sony does, but it belongs to my dad and he'll want it back in a few weeks. After which, I'm back to the Sony and another cheap Philips CD player that I have (CDC-751, actually sounds better for redbook CDs than the Sony). My speakers are a pair of Triangle Antal XS, which are the culprit of the bright sound. I've heard that these speakers go very nice with tubes, so I'm thinking that a tube DAC may be able to level out the high end. The speakers are toed in, and the manual states this is the best way to have them. The speakers are firing long ways across the room, and I have some blankets up on the walls to help with standing waves. The room is about 13' x 16', a medium-sized bedroom.

Either way, I think upgrading the DAC will be a huge improvement. Right now I'm using QED silver anniversary biwire speaker cables, but those will need to be returned eventually also. I'm using Acoustic Research Master Series interconnects. Any suggestions on cables or anything else to help improve the sound?

All speakers sound brighter when toed-in. Point the Triangles straight ahead and see if the tonal balance becomes more even. Soundstage should also seem wider and more expansive, though images larger and a bit less precise.