$5k-$6K DACs w Roon?

 It took some time for the M3 to break in BUT it was light years BETTER THAN my previous Ayre Codex DAC.  

Wow, that is high praise indeed, as there are very vew DACs, and no SS headphone amp, I've heard better than this.

The new Gustard X26 Pro is a phenomenal performer. I think it is very low cost at $1500 (on sale for $1300) I have it and it replaced my Benchmark DAC3B in the office system. I moved the DAC3B to the living room. I stream into the Gustard with a Sonore OpticalRendu since the Gustard does not do native streaming.

RJ45 streaming and non-fibre optical streaming is second tier for me. I spent some time doing tests with 3 different streaming options, RJ45, microRendu, and fibre. It was so easy to hear the improvement with fibre optical. So that adds another $1200-$1500 for ROON READY fibre streaming.

I was thinking of getting the AudioByte stack (son of Rockna) but I think I like to save my money with the Gustard.

I saw a Bricast M1 SE $4995 Including shipping Price Reduced that was sold. When you are ready, please search Bricasti M1SE for sale and see what appears.  
Also please contact some Bricasti retailers to determine if they have any acceptable trade-ins.  You never know. If interested, also search on Bricasti M3.   

That's a pretty good price for an SE!

There's a non-SE version, non MDx on for $4,500 right now. I think my chances of changing DAC's this year are becoming more likely. :)

I'm a former QX5/20 owner and probably about to go back.  I have auditioned a fair amount of under 18k DAC's.  For my money the line of demarcation (when price vs return gets too small) for DAC's is under 9k.  

DAC's like anything else are very system dependent.  Every time I've made even small changes to the electrical (new cords, conditioner upgrade and moving the dedicated outlets in the room so I could utilize them) it made a huge difference.  Most know this about digital, but it's rarely spoken about on the board's, so I thought I'd bring that up.

I have come down to two options.  Auralic and Ayre.  Auralic is great, because you can make upgrades with add on components if you wish at a later date.  I love the pairing of Ayre with Vandersteen's, so I know it plays well in my system.  I would give both these companies a look as they also support their gear and will often give upgrade paths in mid product life to extend the product.  

I'm sure you will be happy with any purchase you make.  Good luck.

ps, are you in CT?