In other words; it is inherently suited to the particular type of music (favoured by some on this forum), and is less capable on other types of music. That's a vastly different proposition to being inferior because someone hasn't been able to "omtimise it properly".
I for one have no doubt the TDA chip will and can be bettered on some forms of music, But who knows the TDA may also be better than the modern chips on most forms of music, Anyway Talk is cheap, If anyone thinks they have a better digital front end, my door is open, It always has been open, many have tried, one day it will happen, Maybe it will be the modified Line Magnetic LM-502CA Dac, Lets hope so. I what Hi res. But my gut feeling is it wont happen, but going on the modified Line Magnetic inside parts list it will at least will be closer that the others and probably (as most) be in some ways better.
What are other DAC types up against. I play my Studio mastering machine Otari MTR 10, with a full valve output stage running Steve Hoffman master tapes, As you can imagine its absolutely amazing. then i fire up the DAC, the second it starts it's just so good, you do not feel short changed in any way, you do not want to turn it off. Interestingly most of the resent visitors never made it to the Reel to Reel machine, They where so blow away with the DAC they really did not care to change, that speaks for itself. Is it that good... well Yes, its better than good. So lets not fcuk around, bring the best DACs on offer, Lets see if a 30 year old Holland TDA15141A S2 can be beaten. Any takers