Move on from my Bryston BDA-1?

dsands, for what it is worth, if I was out shopping today, the 3 DACs you have mentioned would all be at the top of my list in their price range.
All 3 have been very well reviewed. John Darko, when reviewing the RME, directly compared it to the Qutest.  More than price, just a matter of what features fit your needs, and more importantly, what sonic profile best suits your personal preference. 

I had the BDA-1 and then BDA-2 about 6 years ago; I ended up selling the BDA-2 for the  Alpha DAC Series 2 then SimAudio 380DSD which I kept for 5 years or so.   I really liked the BDA-2 though for the money and thought it was a nice step up from the BDA-1.   

If your happy with the Bryston you could snag a used BDA-2 (AKM DACs I believe). The 380DSD (which can also be found pretty cheap used sometimes) is a DAC I really liked and thought was a good step up for me at least over the BDA-2.   

Recently I've tried the RME ADI2FS (also AKM) and Topping D90 and liked the RME the best.  It is too long ago for me to compare the RME vs the BDA-2 but I could have lived with the RME after selling the 380DSD, although what I liked better about the 380DSD over the BDA-2 (a fuller more musical presentation) was also true in this case for my tastes as well which is why I ultimately sold the RME.   I personally found the D90 to be too forward and analytical for my tastes; if your happy or looking for that type of sound though I found the D90 offers a lot of detail for little money...

If your looking for a different presentation from the D90, an R2R NOS with or without tubes would be worth a try.   I ended up with an R2R NOS DAC and I find it so much more engaging and enjoyable than my previous DACs.

Cheers

Interesting comment about the R-2R style docs. For the cost I am  interested in the Ares II which seems to be well reviewed. Regarding the comments regarding tube or tube-like sonic quality, when reviewed against other similarly priced DACs the Ares seems to be the most 'full blossomed", i.e. less analytical.

Be interesting to see what a BDP-1 would sound like as the streamer using the MPD.  You can pick those up cheap now.

I think you may easily find a DAC that provides a significant improvement to the sound quality, depending on what it is you listen to and prioritize when listening to music. The BDA-3 would be a big improvement over the BDA-1, in my personal opinion. But there are lots of other DACs out there that you may prefer.