Hi,
I've been looking at dac's for the past year and not found the right one yet.
I have a dacmagic which I use with my small system and have a SBT going through my Caspian and am looking for a dac for this system. I have to say the SBT is doing a more than adequate job which is why I am biding my time.
I nearly went for the mdac over the rega, musical fidelity,dacmagic and will say the rega and mdac are not much apart , the mdac a bit sharper but although I liked the detail it may be too much over longer listening, I prefer things to bounce rather than march if you get my meaning.
I then listened to the Exposure which doesn't have the exacting detail of the mdac but was a joy to listen to and I am tempted to get one at home for a few days if I can.I found I was just wanting to try more tracks on it to see how they sounded and had a small grin on my face !
However this is £200 more than the mdac so I still think the mdac is an excellent product for the price, I think the Exposure would be more of a side step from the Rega but I think it is certainly worth a listen if you can.It also might depend on your listening preferences, I'm certainly more rock than classical.
I am wanting to listen to the Naim V1 dac to see if there is much if any difference moving up the price chain.From what I read and have heard I am not that optimistic, I will be hearing with the mdac as I can not get a store comparison with the Exposure.
I have considered the cneaky but inputs are not suitable for what I need and the same with the qute.
Good Luck in your search and intrigued to see how you get on.
Have fun.