Add an external DAC. Make my Oppo UDP-205 a true top player

@dcaudio  -

With your budget, you could try a Naim nDAC combined with a Teddy Pardo TeddyXPS power supply.  Excellent sounding and very well built, both by companies with long excellent track records re service.  The pair would be under $2500.  The combination will see off any of the standalone DACs mentioned above. 

If you really wanted to go nuts and add streaming, you could do a used Naim NDS with the same Pardo TXPS; though an NDS would be $3-3.5K on its own (the Pardo TXPS is $1099 new) and requires a separate power supply. 

Agree that a separate DAC is a much better deal than an expensive mod of your Oppo. My Oppo is a 105 and I chose an LKS MH-DA004. Monster linear power supply, dual DAC chips, 3 femtoclocks, discrete jpeg analog stage and built like a brick. About $1500 with Amanero USB board. There’s a long thread here about it. I see now that it has a US distributer.

Did I say discrete jpeg?  It's been a long day:  Discrete JFET.

i have a Oppo 105 and would like to add a external DAC that would rival the SQ of a 205 without the huge price upgrade of a used 205. this is 2020 4 years after the introduction of the 205. for a grand their must be something? any 205 owners find anything?  btw, the LKS is no longer available.  

@jag

You write: "btw, the LKS is no longer available"  

But I see it is available from Amazon, apos.audio, shenzhenaudio and various ebay sellers.  How did you come to this conclusion.  And why?

Also the LKS mini dac (similar but just one DAC chip) for under $1K.