Dac for rock and not so good recordings Tube?

Rather than buying another DAC, how about adding a Yaqin tube buffer between your DAC and your preamp?

FWIW, you may be going about this in an expensive and inefficient way. I, too, prefer to listen to music I enjoy, not just well-recorded music. While it might be possible to find a very warm, forgiving DAC, one size will never fit all. Some CDs might be more horrible-er than others. What I use - and please, no flames - is an EQ. I bought a Behringer T-1951 parametric EQ (with tubes). Connected to a tape loop, I only engage it when the CD being played is unlistenable as is. Instead of settling for one fixed level of "forgiveness" or added warmth, I can adjust things on the fly, zeroing in on the trouble frequency ranges and applying a very subtle cut. It works quite well, even though I may get kicked out of the audio purist club. BTW - Richard Vandersteen told me in person that there is nothing wrong with having and using tone controls.

Try an MHDT tube DAC. Either the Havana or Paridisea. both resell easy if they don't meet your expectations. Jitter and a/c issues can have a lot to do with bright and/or harsh sound, though most chalk it up to bad recordings (not that bad recordings are a myth, I have a number of "remastered" CDs or greatest hit complilations that sound like crap).