oouch!

I am so glad I never bought into the "this is all you'll ever need " odac hype 

Anax, I hear what you say, and I do respect and take notice of your experience. Wouldn't be here if I wasn't happy to listen to you, Merv, and others.

However, you can take your "pissing on hifi" and pour it into your own toilet, please. All those years and listening, and you are not cynical about some of the stuff that goes down, and some of the prices that get paid, and some of the claims of both sellers and buyer?. Isn't that one of the reasons you are here. On another site, that passes for daily diet, right?

I am quite open about my experience, and its gaps, and I am also quite open about the diagnosed deficiencies in my hearing. Still:  I have a right to my cynicism too.

If you think I am pissing on what I believe is, in the hifi world, a bad attack of mass hysteria, then you right, and yes, I do have that agenda.  If you think I am pissing on some of the pyrates here: no I am not. Tell me, on the other hand, that there is no need for that here, because it is preaching to the converted, then... sure. It is something I tend to rant about from time to time (but much more in other places).

I bought the ODAC because it was an impulse buy that I could afford, and I was very interested in, and learning from, all the NwAvGuy stuff at that time. No, I don't have an agenda. I'm not married to NwAvGuy or his DAC, but I suppose they were a part of my audio education. And, for a very small amount of money, it has been giving me enjoyable music for a while now. I recommended ODAC to a few people, back then: I don't now. It may very well be that it is more valuable as a piece of audio history now, than as a DAC.

I am not married to any piece of audio equipment. On the other hand,  I'd like to be: I certainly intend that any other-than-nominal-price purchases should be long-term.

Seems you have asked this question before, yet here we are again for some reason.

Yep... in a different context. This time, I actually tried something else.

Perhaps my next buy should be Geek (I'll credit you of it is). It seems that could be a less-cost way of moving on my experience. On the other hand, I might shelve the project for another six months, go on reading and watching anfd ask the question yet again in the future 

If there is a qualification of listening to so many DACs before posting here, then I won't bother.  I don't believe there is, and experience can be posted great or small.

But hey, robust disagreement is also welcome! 

.
I am so glad I never bought into the "this is all you'll ever need " odac hype 
.

Well, I admit that I wondered, at the time. I still think it was probably a damn good way to spend $150 at that time. And, whether I move on to another <$200 DAC, or move up the price ladder, I do think I got value for money out of it.

.
As someone who just got into R2R, coming from the epithome of sd dacs, it's nigh impossible to understand the treble etch, until you actually hear it.
.

That's the thing... so far, I have not heard it. I need that experience. I'm also concerned that, with ears that don't hear treble very well, that it might end up not suiting me. Only the experience will tell me that...
 

.
I assume you are not a native English speaker, yes?  .

As native as they come!  British English, rather than American, though, which can make a difference.

I'm glad that you can appreciate my thoughts though    . There is probably some stuff in there that actually needs to be heard with an English accent, which means, in part, not to take too seriously.

.

I think what I would like to say is I have tried lots o 'dacs under $500 and they all have big enough problems that you may want to seek other.  And once you have heard $1000-$3000 dacs it becomes very apparent there is a big difference, even though some are not much better than your run of the mill $1000 dac.  Even so, I have used some really nice under $300 dacs and been satisfied with the result for a particular setup, but it is not a main setup.

Ultimately, there is a limit to spending. That differs for all of us: obviously, incomes and responsibilities differ. I have mentioned elsewhere that I am very, very happy to be retired, being, essentially lazy --- but it has its downsides too. I don't think it will ever, now, break the 4-figure price barrier (in UK pounds, if not in US$) and I have to live with that. Of course, that doesn't mean that I'm not interested in what's out there and what it does.

The story of the present day is simply that the Gungnir, which I had hoped might shift my experience to a noticeable new level, doesn't --- because it doesn't work for me.

Well Nick, I will get you the Geek Out 720 when we meet next for you to try.