I, too, am considering a new DAC. The EISA award for this category was a Musical Fidelity unit that sells for $2199. I have a CD play from MF circa 1998 and it has a way to make even bad CD's sound great. I would love to audition it if there was a dealer anywhere around.
DAC league table
A little lost in this world of technical audiophilia, I need a bit of help finding my way.
I have a Marantz streamer with (I think...) an ES Sabre 9016 Ultra Dac as its beating heart. Unhappy with the streamer as whole and thinking of separating out the functions of streaming, DAC and pre-amping, which DACs are better than this one? How do I find out, what specs might tell me?
Onward kit: Acoustics Masterpiece valve amp (used as a power amp), Monitor Audio Gold 200 speakers. Listening interest: vocals, instruments, clarity of sound, although a decent bass response never goes amiss. Source, streaming from tidal or Qobuz.