IME the mytek was wonderful but colored, which might not be the best for you. for sheer transparent with rediculous resolution the grace m902 is perfect(and it has a remote!). some have called it cold, but no one denies its detail.
Sorry to jump in late but I vehemently disagree with the above comment about the Mytek sound vs. the Grace. I would use the word accurate instead of colored. There are four DAC's that seem to get some deserved attention around here. The Mytek Stereo96, Grace m902, Benchmark DAC1 and the BelCanto DAC-1. So what really is the difference?
First and foremost the Mytek and Benchmark are designed with the studio in mind. Their primary function is the actual Digital to Analog conversion. The Grace m902 and BelCanto's primary functions are that of a headphone amplifier. While the Mytek has a really nice headphone amp and the Benchmark has a good output their bread and butter is the DAC portion of the product.
to preface: I currently own a Mytek Stereo96
When I was in the market for a DAC I searched the internet for vendors, combed the message boards of many different sites and read more sterophile type articles that my head hurt. What I ended up doing was going around and listening to a few different DAC's. My reference CD's were Steely Dan's Aja (shocker I know), NWA's Straight Outta Compton and a live Panic show I taped. I was already familiar with the m901 as well as the Grace Design take on sound reproduction. So I called up a few stores as well as a couple of boutique hi-fi, home theater, studio stores and did some comps. In all cases I took my 7506's with me on a few of them I had used the same Dynaudio monitors in playback. Please keep firmly in your mind during your search that one or two minutes is NOT enough time to properly evaluate. For me the product differences were pretty obvious after a little bit of time listening. By the time I got to Home At Last on the AJA album (about 25 minutes in) I felt I could really make notes of what I heard.
The Grace has many advantages like a remote and the enclosure aesthetics for starters. It powered headphones great. Volume was smooth from quiet passages to louder concert sounds. It is clinical though.
The Benchmark DAC1 was the most affordable and was really good sounding. There was to my ears a high frequency emphasis that over time became a bit overpowering to my ears. The bass tended to get lost for me.
The Bel Canto DAC-1 upsamples everything to 24/96. Deal breaker there for me. I'm paying for a DAC, not for a sample-rate converter.
The Mytek definitely has the most studio rackmount look to it. The lower frequencies seem to be very tight and punchy not muddy or colored. There was a big difference positive to the Mytek in the midrange detail versus the Grace. In the $800 - $1400 range I think the Mytek is had to be sonically. Everytime I use it I always think to myself what a damn good decision it was to buy the Mytek.
I know it sounds like a cop out but get a couple of cd's that you KNOW how they sound, call a few dealers around your area and go listen.
edit: grammer