Hi Miguel,
I waited a very long time before upgrading from a heavily modded Cambridge DACmagic IIa (the original Pink Triangle design) so the Vega struck me as something of a revelation. I still really enjoy it and am seriously considering deploying it at my girlfriend’s place rather than selling.
(This would involve pushing her tolerance for audio boxes a little high, so it may be a long term project. I blotted my copybook over the weekend on a long drive by attempting some Ozark Mountain Daredevils. This resulted in immediate assault with an empty plastic water bottle combined with her frenzied blind stabbing at the car stereo controls to stop the pain. Interstation FM static was deemed preferable).
Unfortunately I can’t setup both DACs to do a meaningful A/B comparison. I think the Spring in NOS mode with upsampled DSD 512 through HQP has a bigger soundstage than I recall with the Vega. I think the Vega presented more detail “up front” although I certainly didn’t find it fatiguing.
The Vega has a remote control and digital volume that the Spring lacks.
I would say to certainly try out the Spring if you want to experiment with DSD512, but if you are content with DSD256 (which the Vega can do with the firmware upgrade) then I wouldn’t think the cost/value of changing was justified. I am attracted to the R2R discrete resistor chain rather than an IC DAC but I couldn’t attribute any particular SQ difference to it because I haven’t made the necessary A/B/X comparison. Similarly I believe the linearity correction from using duplicate R2R chains is a good architecture, but can’t say anything about a comparison. The Spring feels very transparent in my system, but others have thought it a shade warmer and darker in comparison to SABRE DACs. I wouldn’t call that a bad thing.