Price: $5600

Website: www.linnenberg-audio.de

Jeff said: Linnenberg’s combination of great specs subjected to final judgments by the human ear has resulted in good things for the Telemann. Compare it with your DAC-preamp of choice and you just may find out that, when the right company is making the product, $5600 worth of sound is all you need.

Read the SoundStage! Ultra review.

The gist: Fully competitive with Jeff’s reference: the Hegel HD30 DAC.