Best DAC under $ 2,500 on used market

You might want to check with Steve Nugent at Empirical Audio as a safe bet. For that kind of scratch you could get something new from him plus he is always up on the latest in technology. He has a new DAC product that you might want to talk to him about.

The Bel Canto and Bryston new DACs are in that range and are pretty darn good. They represent the latest in technology - DACs loose value as new formulas come out, I'm not sure you'll do better with used over those two at around 2 or 2.5k. With amps or other stuff, I wouldn't say that.

Musical Fidelity TriVista 21. It has exotic tubes and is built like a tank. Sounds very good, I have seen them for $1100. A steal. Several companies rebuild them for even greater performance, something I may do someday. Especially good at driving passive preamps.

Apogee Rosetta 200 or Apogee mini dac at half price if you dont need AD conversion. With fireware card also opens the door for the (present) future. Dac made for pro studio purposes. As it was made for the pro market, one could be sure that price is in line with sound quality. Very detailed dynamic sound reportedly with somewhat warmer presentation than the Benchmark. Accepts signals up to 24/192.

What do people think of my favorites from the past: Theta Generation 5 or Basic 3, and Monarchy Audio? Also Encore, rare but great.