You can't have everything in one piece of gear at the price of the 2160. The review was very good, especially considering that it was tested with gear costing more than $16K. If you read the whole review it raves about the 2160s power, overall sound and its phono stage. The reviewer was very complimentary of the whole package. If you get one, listen to it before you decide the DAC is mediocre and spend more $$$ on another piece of gear. Myself, I tend to stop paying a lot of mind to reviewers that use a bunch of flowery words to describe how something tickles their fancy.