Musician Aquarius 0.005% R-2R Ladder DAC

Musician is not well known in the US, but it is made by the same folks who make the Denafrips DACs and they share the same designs and philosophy.  This was my first R-2R DAC and I purchased it after pouring over on-line reviews (which are great!)  I loved it so much that I after about two years I sprang for its cousin, the Denafrips Terminator Plus.  While superior, the T+ is also over twice as expensive (and 4 times the size!)  But the Aquarius is definitely a bird of a feather.  At $1,200 you won't find a better value.  Its a steal!

 I'm the original owner.  Excellent condition.  If you've never tried an R-2R DAC, you ought to.  They have a lovely, smooth, and detailed sound that lacks the harsh, 'digital haze' that so many converters have.  They just sound great, but are also expensive due to the hundreds of 50ppm resistors required.  The Aquarius is Musician’s top-of-the-line DAC and is $3,200 new.  Like the T+, this DAC also uses 4 sets of R-2R ladder decoders using 0.005% tolerance resistors and a discrete Class-A output stage.  The digital filters are 16x oversampling with 32 bits of resolution (a no over-sampling mode is available and I used this with with my CORD M-Scaler).  It uses two temperature controlled oscillators for 44 and 48 kHz sources.  It has 6 inputs (2x I2S, Coax, Opt, AES, and USB) and both SE and balanced outputs.  Like the T+ it DOES NOT SUPPORT A REMOTE.  Beautiful construction.  All sides are heavy aluminum plate.  About 4 years old, no scratches.  Includes all original packaging. 

If you’ve ever wanted to try an R-2R ladder DAC, this is a great choice!  Super smooth sound with tons of micro-detail and no harshness.  Wonderful.  I’m happy to answer any questions!