DAC UPGRADE QUESTION

Forgive me if you've already have enough information and you may be aware of this new DAC with streamer. I know nothing other than the information provided. Perhaps other members know more. MATRIX MINI-I 4 ES9039Q2M Music Streamer $649.00  https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/matrix-mini-i-4-music-streamer-player?_kx=2LVGn4pTusRAqUyAOrmaeosfUQWiVexHjbPJmwTIja4%3D.YduXAQ

The MATRIX MINI-I 4 ES9039Q2M Music Streamer does not appear to have any digital outputs to allow to connect to an external DAC.

I like my Gustard R-26 and I use it to stream from Qobuz. 

Me and an audiophile buddy of mine had a DAC shootout at his place. The three contestants were Mytech Brooklyn Bridge, Qutest and a Bryston BDA-3.

Same day, same system, same tracks: the Mytech sounded "shrouded", the Qutest was better by a bunch. It was clear and articulate.

The BDA-3 kicked butt, great sound stage, very musical. $4k.

And yes we went back and forth, listened for quite a while...considered doing it single blind, but it was unnecessary. The differences were that obvious.

Just my personal experience YMMV.

Regards,

barts

You can do better but of course more $$ since the Qutest is still quite competitive with more current/recent similar priced dacs. From my brief experience I would recommend holo audio spring 3 higher trims for a step up. More expensive dacs may give you more of a jump in sound quality but I have not heard them yet to offer advice. 
 

Looking for upgrade suggestions as thinking I can improve my sound further with a better sounding DAC.

There is another approach you can take to make the DAC more analog-like, and that is to use a tube buffer on the output. I just launched one called the BARITONE.