$1300-1500 DAC

Andrew
If Im not mistaken, you have a Sim Audio Streamer and DAC all in one, a Bluesound Node streamer and a Schiit Gungnir DAC, am I correct?

If so, can you stream with the Bluesound to the Sim Audio, using the latter only as a DAC? If you can, that would give you the chance to compare the Sim Audio as a streamer vs the Bluesound and as DAC vs the Gungnir. It would help to look for the weakest link of the chain and to see if the Sim Audio is as good as you think. 

On the other hand, Hans Beekhuyzen has a YouTube channel and he has tried the original SOtM SMS-200, then the Ultra and Ultra Neo versions. He also has reviewed A LOT of others streamers/bridges, to mention a few: the Node, the Auralic aries mini, the Rasberry Pie, etc. 

He answers questions vía YouTube, on the coments side of every video. He is very profesional and I guess you could ask him wich streamer/bridges he recomends considering your budget and needs. 

Dont forget that many of the products we have mentioned here are bridges, meaning you will need a computer to run them. They will send the signal to the DAC, but you have to control them with a computer using Roon, Audinirvana, or another software. 

I insist, get the best combination of digital gear you can pay and forget about sample rates, MQA, etc. At least for at the begining. 

For me the correct gear is MUCH more important. A good digital chain playing PCM 44.1 will sound MUCH better than a mediocre one playing hi-res.

For instance, in my case, replacing the WiFi connection with a 10 bucks Cat8 Ethernet cable plus a 20 bucks used  Cisco Ethernet Switch (a Gigabit one) had more impact in sound than changing sample rates and formats. 

+1 for the Schiit Gungnir Multibit

Another vote for the Benchmark Dac3. I might even know of one going up for sale soon.

I have the NAD M51 in my system and it sounds beautiful, very smooth.  I would say the only thing I can fault with it is that is does not do MQA.  It's not that it matters much but I feel NAD should be able to add the feature via firmware update since all of the newer dacs from the seem to support MQA.  Tidal Masters streams do however sound terrific anyway.  I also use mine as a preamp connected directly to a NAD C272 power amp.  Works great.  The volume control is done via 35 bit DSP in a way that you can lower the volume to -66db (almost inaudiable) before truncating the signal.  Not selling mine anytime soon.