R2R next? Don't like ESS

Having tried Burr-Brown dacs (some are nice), later on some different ESS chipped designs, and various with Phillips chip sets, if you stay with chip based dacs, the

>> designer and special designs is where the real differences are << imo.

Of course you can try some of the resistor-ladder DACs, all the rage for some - many out there. However, if you must go with a processor chip based DAC, its worth reading up on the designer and the type of sound they were going for. I’m back to a simple TAD1543 chip based DAC, 24/96, with a tube in the power supply circuit, not the signal path - and enjoy it quite a bit actually. Opinions vary greatly, take your time looking around. Best of Luck.

The reason I keep my 14+ year old Esoteric UX3 SACD player is because of the dual Burr Brown PCM 1704 R-R DAC’s. There is an analog sound that is just so right sounding.  In my opinion it is far better than any of the ESS chips as I owned 2 Wyred4Sound dac’s and I always found a brightness to them with a tipped up treble.  The same for when I brought my Esoteric player to hear it against the newer models which used the Ashi Kashi dac chips, no where as smooth or analog sounding.  They were much more crisp sounding that gave me a splitting headache after a half hour or so. 

I know where you can buy one of these well regarded DAC's for $1400. 

https://futureaudiophile.com/weiss-engineering-helios-dac-reviewed/

Oh wait, I just noticed you don't want an ESS DAC, it's not for you- not transparent enough- sorry forget it. 

Implementation is key with dacs, FPGA, R2R and ESS or other chip dacs can all do analog like sound along with transparency. At lower end R2R and older chips will be more forgiving than the ESS.

I can heartily recommend the Denafrips Ares II.  I recently moved up to the Denafrips Venus 15, and the Ares has about 90% of the sound quality of the much more pricey (and bigger) Venus 15.  I think it's one of the best bargains in the audiophile world, especially if you can get a used one.  I compared hi-res streams on the Ares with 1st pressing vinyl (this was with my old Monster Cable Alpha Genesis 1000 cartridge--a very fine cartridge), and they were remarkably close.  If you want an analog sound without digital editorializing, the Denafrips DACs are for you.

If you do buy direct from Denafrips, they're currently offering to cover the tariff imposed by our fearless leader.