Grace Design
m900
Simply put, the Grace Design m900, made in Lyons, Colo., is the best thing you can do for your audio system. Whether you’re playing audiophile DSDs or pulling up a lackluster mp3, the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and headphone amplifier takes some of the best elements of Grace’s bigger reference-based model, the m920, and repackages it into an affordable consumer model. There is literally a ton of nerdery available online about how the m900 does what it does — impedance levels, nonlinear phasing and what not — but honestly most of it is just gibberish that could be summed up with one word, “Awesome.” This is a not a unit that you plug in and say “Yeah, I think I hear a difference.” The m900 will transform your sound entirely. — $499
