Currently using a Rouge sphinx V3 magnum with LRS and a ModI3. What other DACS would you recommend? bored with the MODI looking for an upgrade. Don’t use a lot of streaming mostly I play my own flac files on Audirvana : )
Tell us a bit about the sound you currently have with your kit and something about the sound you are looking for with another DAC? Something clean, crisp and incisive or something with some tube and transformer color?
I think my current set up now maybe to sound is a little too forward. Looking for something more airy sound. If that’s a term 
What is your budget?
Denafrips or Sonnet spring to mind. But it all depends on the budget.
I’m thinking close to $1000
Some Triode tubes can bring a little sparkle and air… You might also try some older style EQ plugins that can emulate some tube goodness as well as allow some boosting of the air bands… Maybe something like the GML 8200 or Manley Massive Passive… An inexpensive way to add some color you may be looking for…
BTY what speakers are you using?
The Topping d90 line rate pretty high… I can’t say if it will bring that air your looking for…
Somewhat depends if you want to upsample with Audirvana or leave that to your DAC. If you want to upsample with Audirvana to DSD, this DAC won’t upsample your music further:
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Ok… I’m leaning towards to a denafrips ares 12th-1. Any thoughts?
The developer of HQPlayer said his measurements of the predecessor Ares II indicated it was performing some additional processing on DSD input. Whether the new version does that I don’t know. Someone at Audio Science Review published measurements of the predecessor DAC that were generally favorable. How it sounds though I have no idea since I’ve never heard one.
What if there was no air on the original recording?
What if the sky was not blue, but orange?
What if a WiiM Amp was better than a Dan d’Agostina Amp?
What if comments would make sense?
Without guessing, the person who started this thread want genuine answers and help. Anyone who listened to more than 1 setup knows that with all material thinkable it can sound very different. “More air” simply means more extension of high frequencies and a larger, better separated soundstage.
What if we just stand-back and let the OP figure this out for themselves…
Apparently they know what they want, and the only way to shorten the curve is for them to make the best technological assessments based on some very fundamental DAC architectures and design dogma, that have distinct ramifications on the analog output signal that we ultimately experience through our playback systems…
A simple search for high-resolution Digital to Analog converter/DAC reviews will provide adequate information to reconcile a decision as to what DAC fits their budget…
It really is all about the differences in how the digital-audio signals are handled and experience listening to PCM and DSD in juxtaposition, and how any given DAC handles both PCM and DSD… Will it provide a unfettered 1-bit PDM (DSD) signal path to output or is the 1-bit PDM converted to multi-bit PCM for output…?. Everything else is intrinsically tied to subjective interpretation.
Does it? … For you it appears to have this definition… I find the construct of “more air” and the analysis of what is “more air” to be quite a bit more complex than is proposed in your definition of the term…
For me too, that definition is alright…
he is not a doctor in music nor me,
he doesn’t say is is right, he expressed is mind…
@Agoldnear can you relax for once…
stop over thinking about everything here…
he doesn’t have to show me a .pdf file to me to understand him
about more air!! man!
A chance i didn’t say that i prefer stereo to mono, more air 
(your favorite emoticon)
“More air” is simply more emphasis on higher frequencies, giving the impression of more separation, thus a more defined sound stage… or some such stuff like that.
jezz really??? I just want suggestions… from that i’ll take all the suggestions I could get and research more. The only reason why I asked here bec, its the Audirvana forum. I figured whatever you guys are guys are using matches pretty well in Audirvana.
Thing is, there’s as many DACs and system congfigurations as there are members of this forum…
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And so goes the definition of “Air” in a recording and the ability to reproduce this “Air” by any given amalgamation of playback components used to audition the resulting wavefronts that reach the subjective acuity of a unique auditory system…
We can certainly agree on this limited definition when this is the only definition, however for some it is not adequate, so these sorts of unqualified assertions have limited value at best, if not useless, when no reference for “Air” has been qualified.
A primary reason for the category of “Plays with Audirvãna” to exist…