Best USB DAC under $1000

In my direct experience you cannot go wrong with an MHDT Havana in that price range. Stupendous for the money. That said, there's a ton of stuff out there that are worth of consideration. For a bit less money the MHDT Paradisea+ doesn't give up that much to the Havana and has slightly smoother midrange but at the expense of some low end impact. My personal experience with two units would have me steer way clear of Benchmark, but that's a matter of taste. Cullen is doing some interesting mods to that PS Audio unit that are well reviewed. VALAB, another inexpensive DAC from the far east is another good candidate getting really good feedback from users. TADAC has quite a following. April Music's Stello 100 and 200. Plenty of choices...probably various different flavors.

I've auditioned the Music Hall (and the Cambridge DACMagic FWIW) and IMVHO they are both very trounced by the Apogee Mini-DAC. A wee tad over budget but can be found second hand for less. Yes, very even-sounding, a tad on the warm side of neutral, detailed but not dry.

I have the MHDT Paradisea + and the Cambridge DAC magic. They are both great sounding DACs. I think the Paradisea + is a bit better but it has a tube if that bugs you. I leave mine on all the time and the tube is supposed to last 8000 hours. The DAC magic is not quite as transparent but still sounds great and offers 3 inputs switchable from the front.

Compared to CD players and some very expensive ones at that both these DACs are as good as sounding as anything I've heard. I'd be interested to listen to a few more in this price range.

For what it's worth I think both these sounded better than the Wavelength Cosencant which is pretty good but no way worth that kind of money and I also had the Ultra Fi musicstream which was horrible in my opinion as well as had the worst customer service and experience I've ever had in hifi.

Some interesting ideas here, thanks. The Havana sounds very interesting...the tubes don't bother me in the least. However, does the Havana only have a 16bit DAC?
Has anyone put the Cambridge DAC magic against the 840C?
Anyone play with the PS Audio?
Thanks again!

Yes, the Havana is an NOS DAC (it does not upsample or oversample). Lavry would be another candidate as well.