My road bike has R700's and ultegra. I love them- the reach is soooooo nice (I can ride the drops on descents and still break- not something I could do on my old bike). While I've never used DA and don't know what that's like, I find the shifting is great (My old bike had ultegra shifters and a 105 front derailler- the R700/ultegra combo works much better).