I haven't heard them and that's a bit much for a blind buy, but I'm getting an LCD-5 soon which is close to that price range. My expectation is that a $100 Topping E30 does essentially everything worthwhile soundwise, but I'm interested in being sure. Some Chord stuff in the thousands of dollars I like less than some cheap stuff as well. We'll see if I find any motivation to get the DAC. Seems not for now.