Appreciate Some Dac Advice

I have been doing A/B comparisons of the X26 and Pontus II for the past week.  They are very close.  In my system they are effectively identical with a USB connection to my Raspberry Pi endpoint running Roon/Qobuz.  The Pontus II is better when you use the Denafrips Iris DDC in between the Raspberry Pi and the DAC.  That may just be that the Pontus can connect to the Iris over I2S while the X26 pinouts are incompatible with the Iris I2s so you have to use AES, Coax or Toslink.  But even when the Pontus II is better it is a fairly small difference that you mostly hear on the decay of something like a gong or acoustic guitar.  

top candidates in my view (used, 2k or near abouts, or under)

dena pontus (as mentioned) - well balanced presentation, nice resolution, big soundstage, warm mids and bass, slight ss grain

soekris 1541/2541 - very similar to pontus, a bit more forward treble, slightly smoother mids, useful variable output

doge 7 - great smoothness and effortlessness, nice warmth, slightly tubey character, slightly softer bass, useful variable output

audio mirror tubadour - touch warmer than doge, further touch slower, more romantic, bloomy bass, slight treble grain

mhdt orchid/stockholm/istanbul - rich flowing smooth sound natural detail (sound varies with tube used in buffer stage), modded versions add outstanding bass impact

chord qutest - other side of spectrum - clean crystal clear sound, terrific soundstage, fast and lean, but minimal ss grain

schiit yggy - similar to pontus/doge but more forward treble, touch of grain/sibilance

hope that helps

Thanks for the input. Might get a Pontus to A/B. Will be using USB connection from picorePlayer to Krell via balanced.

Might have to try a Qutest too. Doge 7 sounds interesting.

Bought a Gustard X26 too, and kept it.

Had others that were more expensive (more than double the price actually), and quite honestly the x26 is better than some of my other DACs that I got a hold of for way, way less than 1/2 the price. The European/American/Canadian DACs just couldn’t compete anywhere near the price point. (Never tried other Chinese DACs.)

The Gustard X26 was an eye opener.