DAC for Bricasti Design M5 Network Player

I thought about that; but $6,500 is over budget.  Plus, I can explore other DACs with a separates.  Do you have any stand alone DACs you like?

I agree with @jriggy above. Please call a Bricasti retailer and ask about purchasing his M3 demo. Please ask about trading in your Bricasti M5 and add those funds towards the purchase of a Bricasti M3 with network renderer inside. You should be able to do this within your budget. The Bricasti M3 DAC is excellent. Please confirm you get it with the MDx upgrade board installed. 

If your Bricasti retailer is unable to made the deal, call another Bricasti retailer. Please keep us posted.

Ill give it a shot and report back. Thanks guys!

You could also try the 30 day trial of the RME ADI 2 FS dac from Sweetwater with your M5.  It is ~1/5 the cost and is crazy good for the money.  I run it balanced into my Sim 740p preamp.   If you find it underwhelming simply return it.   I sold my M3 with MDx to try some cheaper options and for now have ended up with the RME as my 30 day return just expired.   Unlike you, my weak link may be my streamer (I use a raspberry pi based spdif streamer).  The M3 is a great dac and the folks at Bricasti told me the integrated Ethernet streamer was the best sounding interface, so based on that feedback and others from these forums, I’m betting I didn’t hear the M3 at its best.    But still, I am amazed at how good the RME sounds in my system after having two previous DACs with 4 to 5x the MSRP. 
Cheers