Hi, before the Reference I had a Premier. Before that I had a Discrete. I now have a Cascade. And I loved them all. Going back to the topic, I have made a few different posts about the MSB DACs I have had: Yes the Premier was the best “value for money” in the MSB line up in my opinion, but the Reference was indisputably - for me - a better DAC. The Cascade is the next level (so will be a Palisade).