You mean to say I have a bias in favor of DACs that won't trigger a migraine. That's correct. Twenty or so years ago a DAC like that was an exception, and I was happy to finally be able to listen to music for hours as I'd hitherto only been able with analogue playback (tape and vinyl).
dCS is in no way unique in this respect today. If anything, when I listen to other DACs whose sound l like (a lot), e.g. the different Lampizator models, incarnations, generations, updates, tube rolling, whatnot, I sometimes had a hard time listening to favorite recordings that I know by heart, realizing some parts were missing, with the earlier separate DSD or R2R boards. andromedaaudio above made similar comment about his Mark Levinson and Meitner. It's difficult it is to go back and accept a lower resolution playback. As if one instantly got older and were wondering if one's eyesight and hearing were diminished. As soon as music is being played back that I don't know, not missing anything, I'm enjoying what I'm hearing.
I said this several times: I like different DACs for different reasons. If I had the means, I'd surely own several, as well as upgrade in a blink when something better comes along. My emotional attachment to gear doesn't extend beyond the loudspeakers I built with my own hands. That I'll admit is different: my own blood, sweat and tears.
I'm starting to think the problem is twofold: firstly, you appear to be offended because I spoke my mind a couple of times (in hindsight, I've been wondering if I got invited that one time precisely because I'm occasionally taking the freedom to be blunt). Transactional analysis and classic rhetorics has it that one shouldn't ask questions if one doesn't want to hear the answers. Get over it. Secondly, my ears don't have eyes: I listen. I don't assume, seeing a pair of horns and a stack of tube electronics, to get one type of sound, versus seeing e.g. a dCS component, automatically jumping to the conclusion that I'm going to hear something diametrically opposed.
Now, would it might make it easier to explain a relative absence of an expectation bias stating that I own or have owned, among other, dCS components? It seems to me of more value in the context of a thread like this to point out that I have heard more systems with dCS source components that I didn't like than ones I do. I don't understand those people, and if they made their ill-fated choice upon the recommendation of others, I certainly do not want to be quoted by anyone going down this path that I advised them to take it.
Greetings from Switzerland, David.