Best DAC you ever heard list. 1.Budget under 1k 2. Mid Under 5k 3. Cost no Object.

@lordmelton i just spent 4 days at Axpona with the Lampi Horizon in the same System as our Method 4 and I may be a little biased but I wasn’t impressed with with the Lampi. It has some upper mid range edginess and lacked the air and space I heard in the Method 4. But I may be biased. The other guys in the room agreed with me though.  I think Dacs are extremely important they are your source. Some people don’t get that. 

@helomech i think when you have an expensive system like one with maficos the DAC becomes even more important.  Just my opinion. 

@calvinj 

Ok I'll check it out

in recent times i’ve certainly heard plenty of budget dacs and under $5k dacs that i liked at shows. lots of great digital at very reasonable prices. but i don’t have a feel for those dacs to identify the best ones.

i’ve focused on more cost no object dacs and of those the best i have ever heard is my Wadax Reference dac, Level 4 version.

the Level 4 Wadax System

You might need one or two more weight classes. I have heard several DACs in the $5K - $15K range that I consider significantly better than anything I have heard at under $5K, but none of those would compete against the better cost-no-object units.