There are lots of great recommendations and I appreciate all but there is no answer to the question " Has the technology advanced enough to make a present day moderately priced dac superior or equal to the more expensive MF tri vista?"
I would say yes..... I have had $500 DACs in my System and in seeking better performance, I have had Multi Thousand dollar DACs (Highly reviewed and drooled over) A/B with Audiophile friends. They were ’straining’ to hear differences. And when the Test was over they were picking about 50-50... IOW Just Guessing.... IMHO - this is one component that you can save money on... Concentrate on Speakers and Amplifiers and Room Acoustics. BTW - Don't interpret my remarks as "All Dacs are equal". Just interpret it as Shop wisely, and don't throw money at the problem... I would say $500 is enough.