Kevin, I think you will be very pleased with the Mk2 Massive compared to Mk1 Sunlight. I have my Mk2 Massive running into my prreamp. I have the Mk2 volume locked on 100 and have NO noise issues what so ever and I should mention that my preamp is a tube preamp. I run high quality 1.5 meter single ended ( RCA connectors ) from the Mk2 to the preamp.
I suggest you hookup the Mk2 and sit back and enjoy the music! 
My suggestion is to familiarize yourself with the settings and discover what works best for your system in regards to grounded/lifted, auto/off etc.
I went back and looked at Issue 342 ( I only have the print version ) and it clearly states that Issue 344 ( which I do not have yet ) will have a focus on digital that will include the Mk2. If you have the digital version you probably get it before I get the print version.
Perhaps thatās exactly where he will be bringing us.
Hopefully shortly with that promised final issue of Massive.
That is the issue with the MK2 as some folks think.
Worrying about āultrasonic noiseā, does it effect the sound quality delivered through the speakers or not? Many owners would likely desire the best sound out of their unit without any ānoiseā in the human frequency range.
If the decision rests on better sound quality but some very small āultrasonic noiseā or no āultrasonic noiseā but lesser sound quality what would the customer prefer?
That raises the question of the effect of āreviewsā of equipment and the effect on the companies producing the items and of the listening publicās perception of that equipment.
Hope that the long awaited improved Massive release achieves its objective.
I used a DAC for 6 years, part of an integrated system. I then changed my system and bought another DAC after a home loan. It took several months to realise it was actually worse than the previous one. You read all these reviews (Iāve stopped and cancelled all subscriptions a while ago) motivated by advertising revenues, buyer reinforcement etc. often without AB comparisons, because few buyers of paid-for reviews want the review to say other devices are better. People like GoldenSound do actually say they wouldnāt buy things they are reviewing or prefer other devices, which is why I give him money (he often buys review items retail with Patreon money and then sells them).
Most of the comparisons commented here are between Mk1 and Mk2, rather than any of the other DACs available. Thatās hardly surprising on a PS Audio website. The mistake I made was because I didnāt do any AB testing, which Iāve done in the past, and did most recently, with different manufacturers. The results were PS Audio (against 3 other DACs), Audiolab (to try DSD, but beat the PWD Mk2 for PCM), Devialet, Lumin (no AB, a fail), Holo May (AB with Lumin, 1000% better).
I donāt agree with the ASR thing that a DAC that measures well must sound good, I do agree with John Atkinson when he reviewed the Mk2 DAC that there is a correlation with very good sounding DACs measuring well.
Lots of good manufacturers occasionally make some not so good products. The really good manufacturers learn from their mistakes.
One thing that Iāve found interesting about DACs is that there tends to be places that hype up one particular DAC. In this case, the PS Audio forum is where the directstreams are hyped up the most. Other forums hype up Rockna, others hype up Holo May, etc etc. So like you said, itās not super surprising that a lot of MK1 users upgrade to MK2 and do not mention any A/B testing. However, please do not assume that just because something is not mentioned in this forum means that the MK2 has not been compared with other DACs.
I sent my DAC out to my friends on a 3 month tour where it was compared with the Sonnet Pasithea, Bricasti M1se, Rockna Wavedream Sig, Holo May, Chord TT2, etc. All of them had very positive things to say about the MK2 when compared to their reference DACs.
I kept a Bricasti M1 in the house while waiting to see how the DS MK2 developed. Initially, at the end of 2022, the Bricasti had the edge both in SQ enjoyment and in not having any noise issues when connected directly to a power amp. At this point the SQ enjoyment on the DS MK2 is better. The Bricasti sold used last month for the new price of the DS MK2.
How do you quantify resolution? How are you comparing the resolution of may vs mk2? If may is a 10, what is the mk2? Are you just using the noise floor? Have you ABād with the massive firmware?
It would be useful to understand how you are backing up your claims. Thanks
Ultrasonic noise is beyond human hearing capabilities. It may however have an affect on downstream components depending on their design. The mk2 is very high resolving while being musical and listenable at the same time. The background is very black when listening either with or without a preamp in the chain. It does not need to apologize to any other design be it r2r or chip based. To those of us that listen to the music rather than staring at test equipment it is our preferred source.
Therein lies the problem - if they have an amp following that has āsensibleā filtering on the input etc. then it wouldnāt be a problem.
If they have an amp that is sensitive to ultrasonic noise (and there are some that are, often the ones with less āsensibleā filtering on the input in pursuit of a purer sound, or controlled non-linearity in pursuit of ābetterā or more pleasing sound) then it is a big problem and no amount of wonderful sound presentation will make up for weird noise artifacts generated in the amp as a result of the ultrasonic noise.
As folks here say over and over, only way to be sure is to home demo 
I will have to disagree with this, Steven. Granted in my own system, even the initial release of the MkII was easily more resolving than my MkI with Sunlight. Additionally, in the other systems I hear on a normally monthly basis in two different clubs, some systems of which are very expensive indeed, I rarely hear any DAC driven music that is as resolving and as musically natural (granted again, to me) as what I hear in my own system. Like you I use live music as my sense of comparison to what is natural. Almost 30 years of having been a patron of the Philadelphia classical and jazz scenes is my help. 
I am still having to use a HDMI shorting plug on my MK2 i2s1 input with massive that is supposed to disable i2S1 . Maybe i still have a ground issue from the grounding tab to back panel. It is so much better resolution and quieo with the shorting plug in i2s1. When I open it for new output transformer change I will know for sure. I got noisy and After much troubleshooting I found the HDMI shorting plug had got knocked out wheb troubleshooting a router issue last week. Now all is happy again bass and resolution way better.
Just received my DSD Mk. II. Set up was relatively easy. Installed the firmware, connected it to my Aurender N200 via usb, set the fixed volume at 100 and everything seems to be going well. Even with only a couple hours on the DSD, it already sounds very good.
Will eventually play with i2s vs usb (via my Sonore ultraDigital), but for now wanted it to be as short a signal path as possible.
So far, so very good!
You wonāt be disappointed! Just wait until it has broken in.
Are you preferring I2S 2 over 1? I may switch input to see if itās sounding different, I have HDMI plug out too.
Edit: I saved the shorting plugs to a secured place. Itās so secured that I canāt not find it anymore. Oh wellš I canāt do with/without comparison on that.
Well looking at a picture I am plugged into I2S2. I had mixed up which was what one. I am traveling and not able to try the other but it has been the one I used shorting plug on before massive. Since jk fixed your grounds your trial interests me.
I do not understand what you are saying. What type or brand of shorting plug do you use? I have my PST plugged into one of the I2S inputs and the AirLens into the other. As near is I can tell there is no difference between the two I2S inputs.
The HDMI and USB inputs in DS and early DSMK2 stayed active even when not in use. The shorting plugs were designed to āturn offā these inputs so they would not emit RFI/EMI noise.
The latest MK2 software has an āAutoā function on inputs. So, when they are not in use they will turn off automatically.
What @vmax was saying surprised me, and I want to find out if these shorting plugs will make any SQ difference in my unused I2S input.
I went to my usual hiding places and could not find them. It is possible one of my hiding places was exposed by the boss, and they were moved to the garbage can 
I am still looking 