There's a space between the vast wasteland of mid-fi AV receivers and the world of "serious" high-end audio...... This is where the unusual, I would say unique, exaSound e38 Mark II DAC comes in.
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...not only an impressive sounding DAC, but one that successfully combined a Roon server characterized by simplicity of setup and rock-solid performance...
The harmonic integration across all frequency ranges is truly fine. I would expect this from any quality DAC, but the exaSound line…especially the DM…does so with a laudable ease and effortlessness that makes listening a real pleasure, and that all the time. There is that magic word that I use sometimes to describe a superior harmonic performance and a oneness with a fine recording: organic. When a DAC achieves this in my estimation, they are not sounding like they were manufactured, but like they had grown up like a living creature out of the earth and into our company, just to please us with glorious audio vibes of the highest order. That is the zone that the DM occupies...
Occasionally, one makes an improvement in their audio system that is monumental....The sound field has become immense, and detailed. You can pinpoint individual instruments and their positions in the orchestra. The sound field has also expanded off to the sides beyond the speakers themselves...This is the most “musical” reproduction that I’ve ever heard.
...as I kept switching between the two, the sound of the e32 kept drawing me in, in a way that the EAR DAC (and one or two other lesser dacs that I had on hand) did not do. And as I kept listening and the DAC ran in further, this sense intensified. I was finding the e32 strangely satisfying and engaging, in a way that I have not yet experienced with digital.
Like the e18 and e28, the e38 was silent in operation and absolutely stable. Unlike with them, I heard a newfound delicacy in the treble, unaccompanied by any added noise or brightness that the ambience...