Focal Arche?

Well, my $1000 off voucher for a Focal Arche expires at the end of the year. I'm surprised there's not a thread on this AIO, but maybe there is and I missed it (please post a link).

Is this thing worth $1500?

 

Don't think there's a dedicated thread. I heavily researched this a couple months ago and think the answer to your question is "no." See headphone.com thread: https://forum.headphones.com/t/focal-arche-dac-amp-official-thread/3730.

Notably, firmware issues plague the device and users are growing increasingly frustrated and Focal's efforts to remedy the situation have been lackluster. See the end of the thread above. This may be on Micromega as the developer of the unit, but either way it's scared me off. Note too that the unit does not have the ability to mute the preouts when using headphones, which depending on your use case could be incredibly annoying.

I'd look into the Jotunheim 2. That's my current frontrunner for a desktop all-in-one (with the built-in DAC card). Or just pair with Bifrost 2.

 

I ordered one, but they are back order for 4-6 weeks. See ya next year!