Audio Note Balanced DAC 4.1

Andy Schaub has posted a review of the Audio Note balanced DAC 4.1 at Positive Feedback Online. His conclusion:

It forms an image which is an equivalent to the experience of standing in the Paris' Metro subway station and seeing so many faces in front of you; without literally describing the scene in a way a film script might, it hits you in the chest causing an emotive reaction equal to that of being in the crowd. Put quite simply, that is what the DAC 4.1X does. It brings the music to you in a way that allows you to have an emotive reaction that you simply cannot get from listening via the average DAC. Which is why you get the DAC 4.1X with a proper transport and digital (S/PDIF) cable and save the Prius for another year; because nothing like music (or poetry) can do that for you. So unless you happen to be very lucky and like the occasional graduate student I would see at the Stanford Coffee House, can "play" the music in your head from the score (while conducting an invisible orchestra), you really need to get one of these. Quite honestly, the transport, S/PDIF cable and DAC 4.1X with all NOS tubes can come to substantially more than a Prius depending on which Prius package you get; but with the DAC 4.1X you get so much music.

You can read the full review here.