Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "musical", "emotional" and "engaging", but as those terms are commonly used they are the antithesis of "accurate" reproduction (to be clear, I am referring to a general sound in reproduction across all music; alternatively, a particular recording can be accurate and all of those things). It sounds like what you want is some semblance of accuracy but with some coloration leading to increased emotional engagement.

In any case, you are already working with a good, but colored and "musical" preamp so you should be careful not to err too much to that end of the spectrum if you want to retain any semblance of accurate reproduction. From what I've read the Capri is even more colored than the Levinson.

Given your tastes and based upon my experience with the XDS1, I think an EMM Labs DAC2X is very much worth considering.

Good luck.

EMM Labs and Playback Designs are for sure in the lean camp.

Puff, puff, pass.

@ksattic 
You shouldn't believe marketing.  They aren't the only ones doing it nor are they even the first.  I'm sure the DACs are nice but there are much better.

@ksattic   That’s the way to do it - listen. I was just pointing out that FPGA DACs are not a Chord exclusive - several other manufacturers use FPGAs for the heavy lifting in their DACs (such as by EMM Labs in my digital gear and also MSB and dcs afaik).