Oppo Sonica DAC Expected this fall

Thanks for your comments above regarding the Oppo Sonica DAC.  I appreciate the additional information that was posted.

After I posted my Oppo Sonica question above, I did some additional research on the Ayre Codex DAC and like it very much.  The Ayre Codex DAC is an amazing small 3 pound box that helps my system sound much better.  My Ayre Codex DAC is laying on its side with 3 Ayre Myrtle wooden blocks ($15 for 3) holding it up.  I saw it this way at my retailer and they they recommended it be used in the laying down position.  My Codex DAC is connected, using a James Romeyn Pure Balanced POWer Fully Balanced Interconnect cable with Cardas Rhodium XLR Connectors, to my Ayre AX-7e integrated amplifier and, after break in time, the Ayre Codex DAC is highly recommended.  The sound quality is much improved with the Codex DAC.  

The Cardas Rhodium XLR Connectors also take a while to break in but really help to improve the sound quality after several weeks.  

I'm into the Sonica about 5 days now, leaving it on the whole time, and it sounds very natural.  I've been playing it back and forth for a while and at first only thought it was marginally better than my OPPO 105.  However, after playing a variety of music...most of which I thought poorly recorded in digital...it seems this DAC does offer some improvements that make it worth consideration of keeping.  For instance, I have a lot of Rolling Stones on SACD and ripped to DSD (Exile/Let it Bleed)...never thought it sounded right, too forward and lots of glare and harshness.  Most of these characteristics are now gone on the Sonica DAC.  I admit I've rearranged my room in ways that optimize my power cords but I can A/B relatively easy via wireless DNLA between the 105 and the Sonica...there is an improvement in depth, detail and naturalness.  I'll give it a full 30 days before making up my mind, but the jury is still out...I wish it was super obvious but at this point my audition needs more music to really decide. 

Thanks, hikmer. Your comments are really helpful. The Sonica sounds promissing in terms of its sound quality. If you leave it on all the time, does the display time out and go dark? I’d be worried about burning it out if it was always lit up. Have you had a chance to see if the Sonica does gapless playback? I’d like to see if Oppo upgraded the software yet. I find listening to players without gapless really annoying.

hikmer,

Do you feel the glare and harshness are gone because Sonica is warmer, more laid back or maybe a bit less extended in Hf?

The display is always on but I think there is a setting to change it, for me its not a real issue.  I don't think it plays gapless but when I listen to my DSD albums I don't notice lag between songs...I'll play Dark Side to find out for sure.

I don't think the Sonica is "warmer" at all, it is more natural and detailed.  Not more laid back or less extended, in fact I notice more depth and separation with the Sonica.  I hear the most improvements with DSD files, I hear very little improvement with lower quality movies and television.  However I have really analyzed or been critical of these recordings. 

The biggest improvements have been the ability to put all my networking audio gear in a more concealed location and thus reduce the digital interference I was getting through my speakers.   However I have found that my OPPO 105 surprisingly is now playing DSD via DNLA without dropouts...this may be due to a NAS upgrade I recently acquired but previously I could not stream DSD to my OPPO 105 without significant dropouts.