When the Marantz arrived, I was using the fully loaded MSB Diamond DAC IV ($43,325) that Jon Iverson reviewed in the October 2012 issue. Setting up the NA-11S1 ($3499) and comparing the sound of its analog outputs with the sound of the MSB driven by a coaxial S/PDIF connection, I was astonished by how close the two DACs sounded. (Levels were matched to within 0.1dB at 1kHz, and music was streamed from Twonky.)

Listening to Bruce Hornsby's "The Way It Is," from a July 2011 Noisemakers concert at the Portland, Oregon Zoo, with Béla Fleck guesting on banjo (24/44.1 ALAC file transcoded from FLAC with Max), I was hard put to hear any difference. The high frequencies of both processors were very similar, and only with repeated hearings could I determine that the Marantz's upper bass was warmer than the MSB's. With "Still Water," from Daniel Lanois's Acadie: Gold Top Edition (ALAC files ripped from CD, Opal/Warner Bros. 25969-2), the soft-toned bass was again slightly warmer through the Marantz, the MSB better defining the leading edges in the instrument's sound.

In the long term, the MSB was a little more dynamic, with a better sense of pace. But considering that the MSB costs more than 12 times the Marantz's price, the NA-11S1's sound was too close for the Diamond DAC IV's comfort.