How much should I spend on a new DAC

Before spending money to relpace your dac, try replacing the coax and power cord with Odin 2 Silver and Gold from Ali-Express. First I replaced a Pangea coax ($169) with an Odin 2 Silver Coax, and was amazed, I then completely replaced all my hi-end cables ($$$$) with Nordost Odin 2 (not Nordost, but incredible value). The gold for component power cords and speaker cables. Power amps need to swing more current. See Amazon for fabulous PCs under $50.00. I bought 2 of these

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Please realize that any high-end brand name cable from Ali express (any cables out of china) is likely fake. 
 

wont comment on their no name cables but I would doubt they are any good for the caliber of audio system you have. 

@jetter - Toslink has less bandwidth, so can eliminate high resolution files as being an option.  The other factor is that using a Toslink required to additional conversions from electrical to light and back.  I’ve not really made an effort to compare, so won’t make any proclamations on SQ as I’m sure there isn’t only one answer. 

celestial_sound,

Dump the PC, even an entry level streamer like a Bluesound Node (130) will best the PC if you bypass the internal DAC with a separate high quality DAC. Others can give you better recommendations on the streamer; but some day I'll own an Aurender. Run ethernet from into the streamer, either with or without something like the Ether ReGen

I agree on the R2R ladder DAC idea, but it has to be better than a Denafrips Ares. I have heard the following R2R ladder DACs in my system and can whole heartedly recommend them:

* Musician Aquarius $3,100

* Musician Pegasus $1,100 (only with a DDC like a Denafrips Iris $550)

* Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE edition $3,100

* Denafrips Pontus II (or the newer Pontus II 12th anniversary $1,850) which soars when the Denafrips Iris DDC is added at $550 - This is what I own

Best of luck to you, this is the fun part

This is one of the best reviews I’ve seen of 4 of the top rated DAC’s - very informative.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=holo+audio+may+KTE+%26+Spring+KTE+compared

I have the Yggdrasil OG - which is a superb R2R DAC for a very reasonable price. If I were to upgrade it would likely be to the Holo Audio May KTE that this guy reviews and compares to the Yggy, the Spring KTE and the Chord HUGO TT2.

I’ve seen others compare the May KTE to the MSB DAC (pricey & perhaps the best at any price).

And yes... an R2R DAC, without oversampling, DSD, etc. - the most realistic sound quality comes from non-oversampling DAC’s. Though, if you want to spend the money - the Chord HUGO TT2, may be as good as it gets without spending MSB kind of money (which is ridiculous money for most people).

And... yes... a streamer / player like the Bryston BDP 3, will do a good job of transmitting a clean, noise-free signal to your DAC.

Check this out if you want a bit of an idea how great the Holo Audio DAC’s can sound - though this guy’s system components have some significant upgrades that produce this incredible sound quality (they’re not just off-the-shelf components)!