What's the best Tube DAC you have heard?

with regard to the zanden, while i have not executed a direct comparision with other dacs, i have yet to hear sytem that resembles the "classic" tube sound to the degree i heard when a zanden dac was part of a stereo system. so while not a truly scientific statement, it is based upon my audition of 1000's of stereo systems, including my own.

the allusion to "smokes" them all is an obvious figure of speech and not meant to be taken literally.

with regard to the zanden, while i have not executed a direct comparision with other dacs, i have yet to hear sytem that resembles the "classic" tube sound to the degree i heard when a zanden dac was part of a stereo system. so while not a truly scientific statement, it is based upon my audition of 1000's of stereo systems, including my own.

the allusion to "smokes" them all is an obvious figure of speech and not meant to be taken literally.

No, that comparison doesn't sound remotely scientific, or even qualifiable. It sounds like a pretty blatant exaggeration based upon acoustic/aural memory of systems that don't necessarily bear any resemblance to the system/room/music you might have heard the Zanden with. Feel free to correct me here. I suppose your vast experience with so many systems can filter all that information and all of those variables, and render a sound judgment (pun intended) that's as good as a direct comparison? Your simple statement above regarding the DAC having a classic tube sound would have been more to the point and less misleading, IMHO. The "allusion" you mention may be a figure of speech but it does directly imply direct comparisons in order to come up with such a conclusion. Comparisons that are not direct, as I'm now understanding yours to be (as you've disclosed), are.... well, I won't even pass that judgment I'll just leave that one to others to judge for themselves, lets just say I think you should have disclosed that from the start rather than using the metaphor, or allusion that you chose, whether or not a figure of speech (and a highly overused one in these forums I might add). Your original post strikes me as so many posts to these forums do, as a rather grandiose exaggeration of hierarchy based upon little or no direct comparison. Again, perhaps I am missing something about that first statement in your first post(?). What did you mean by "regardless of sound"?

There is also some great info. in the thread above titled

"Reference DACS: An overall perspective"

if you listen to say 100 stereo syetms, each containing a particular component, one may induce, if one observes a consistent sonic characteristic, that the compoent may have a certain quality. such a conclusion is based upon induction.

let's consider an example of a person, whom you observe in many different situations. suppose that person, a stranger, exhaibits a consistent characteristic. one could say, granted, with some probability, that the person has a a particular personality trait.

so to, my comment about the zanden, is a probabilistic statement.

i certain;y have a reason to consider the zanden dac as my favorite dac, even though i have not compared it to other dacs or heard it in my own syst3em.

i would go so far as to bet that in a blind test or other type of comparison with another dac, that i would prefer the zanden over another dac. i am confident of my preference for the original zanden dac, in absence of direct comparisons, because of my vast experience of listening to thousands of stereo systems.

since all answers to the posted question are opinions, i am answering honestly, based upon the information available to me.

i don't have to hear a direct comparison to form an opinion about a product.

hi jax2:

i forgot to respond to your question regarding the context of the phrase "regardless of sound".

what i meant implies that audiophiles have favorite components which sound different. the criteria that audiophiles use to judge the merits of components can vary among audiophiles. its use probably was superfluous and did not add anything useful in my previous post. thus, i apologize for stating that which is redundant or irrelevant.