Best DAC for around $10K new or used

What about MSB? Any comments about the Signature IV?

dCS Debussy is in the range, I enjoy it.

Leog2015 Hi.

I love what R2R Ladder Multibit dac's bring to the music compared to Delta Sigma dacs, they have a jump factor and body to the vital lower midrange compared to Delta Sigma, which are sweet and smooth but to me boring to listen to, especially on Redbook CD's.

I would strongly recommend a good listen to the MSB Signature DAC IV because as they say on their website it has a " Platinum Signature Ladder DAC" as their D to A convertor.

Cheers George

So you can also save on not having a preamp as well.

That all depends on the preamp.

Happy Listening.

My top 4 were

ARC
Aesthetix Pandora
DCS
MSB Analog w premium power supply.

i set range at up to fifteen K new. Agree there is no such thing as BEST...

They all have virtues and leanings but in end I went with Pandora. have since upgraded it to SIG and there is another level of upgrade possible w stealth caps.

i think Jim White is a really talented digital and analog engineer, wanted a path to upgrade vs replace, appreciate tube rolling and also with path to DSD which the SIG has. Some future proofing provided by FPGA approach ( other dacs but not all have this) and finally an engineers engineer approach to Farady cage and some control of RFI and grunge.

My 2 nd choice and it was close is the MSB Analog.

I would say that the home audition is perhaps MOST important step.