Excerpts about the Rega DAC from another forum I visit are below. I haven't listened to one myself,one of my friends has bought it as well(I think his turntable & amp are Rega as well). I don't even use any external DAC myself. I have a Beresford 7520 bought for using with my laptop/PC but use a early 80s Sony CD player 95% of the time now so may sell off the Beresford as it's not being used and buy another DAC when it's appropriate.
"I have now had a reasonably good listen and the DAC has certainly improved since my initial listen, which itself was hugely encouraging.
As mentioned above I have experience of the following front ends: - Benchmark DAC 1, Lavry DA10, Rega Saturn and Linn Ikemi.
At this point I feel fairly convinced that my system is now as consistently pleasing, across all types of music, as it has ever been. As you would expect there are certain areas of performance in which it excels and others where it is more "middle of the pack". Here are some of my observations.
Soundstage - Very wide with great spacing of instruments. As good as I can remember, particularly in terms of width, with sound sources seemingly extending well beyond the speakers.
Bass - Tuneful and tight, although not remarkably deep.
Rhythm and Drive - Excellent toe tapping goodness, only clearly bettered by the Ikemi. Dynamics are also excellent.
Detail - This is not it's strength, perhaps lacking the analytic detail of the DAC 1 or even the Saturn, but for me, this does not put a dampener on things at all. However, this could be a consideration for those who crave the last word in detail.
Overall - The Rega DAC is a cohesive performer that in my view is a spectacularly good value proposition. I think this might be "the one".
Admittedly it does not have all the bells and whistles of some of the competitors, but if this is not a problem, your "compensation" is that all of your money is directed towards sound quality. A final very minor negative, is the aesthetics. "