Stereophiles gets its game on with the Grace m902 audio Swiss Army knife. Pay attention here: it's a headphone amplifier that has analog out to act as a preamp. It also sports USB for computer connectivity as well as traditional S/PDIF and AES/EBU digital inputs. So it's a mini preamp, DAC headphone amp and USB transport. It's okay to be confused. Simply, the m902 does just about everything except make waffles.

Stereophile says this of the Grace's DAC:

The Levinson processor cost a whopping $17,500 when last available, and yes, it did sound slightly better than the tenth-the-price Grace m902!

So is the Grace amazing or the Levinson way overpriced? Probably the latter. This is how the Grace stacks up against the $1000 Benchmark DAC-1, a nearly identical leatherman product:

At $1700, the Grace m902 costs 75% more than Benchmark's DAC-1. Is it nearly 'twice as good'? Probably not, by any rational calculus. But, using an emotional calculus, can the m902 provide twice the listening pleasure and twice the pride of ownership? I'd say 'yes.' Highly recommended."

Then goes on to say:

While it doesn't sound significantly better than the cheaper Benchmark, merely different, the fact that it offers analog as well as digital inputs and a remote control puts it in a different product class.

About those digital connections, Wes Phillips says the USB is vastly inferior to the antiquated connections. What's up with that? If that is true, then the USB was thrown in without really putting the effort in to making it great. USB, as I constantly say, is potentially a superior connection. Sad, sad, sad. Read the full article for a lot more comparisons and tests all across the board.