DAC experiences?

I also agree with JK. I have a partially modified DSD I and I think it sounds great. Getting a MKI fully modified for under $3,500 is probably a great deal. I would also look to see what is going on with MKII prices now that PS Audio is making something new. Also, PS Audio has a Stellar Gold Dac which was positively reviewed. 

I personally like the FPGA and conversion to DSD sound and the R2R sound as well over the Sabre Dacs which sound too brittle and sharp to me. But, as was pointed out early in this thread, everyone has their own opinions so you need to figure out where you land on the spectrum. 

Last week I had the best DAC I have ever heard in the house for a few days. It uses dual ESS ES9039pro DAC chips. I was of the opinion that something like an FPGA was the way to go but I now say I am wrong, other approaches could also be top tier. Now this new DAC cost $25k, again I was thinking how can a DAC that costs that much use ESS chips. I was wrong again on that.

I have owned the Benchmark DAC3B (and other BM DACs). The Musetec 005 and many other ESS DACs. They all are nowhere close to the great ESS DAC I heard. My takeaway was that it was the output stage of the DAC which was the secret sauce that made that DAC great.

It does not matter what DAC I am talking about I just want to convey that ESS DACs can be good as very best DACs.

The ESS ES9039pro DAC chip is probably one of the best DAC chips available.

I have owned and lived with a few DAC's that used that chip.  Very good sounding at first however over time it just doesn't have that "Real" sound and can become fatiguing. That said, out of all the chip DACs, that would be my go-to if I wanted a chip DAC. 

There is no going back when you hear a good non-chip DAC.  That is if your system is up to par.  On a budget system an ESS ES9039pro DAC would be a good match. An older SMSL SU8 DAC would be a good choice at under $300.  I remember A/Bing this DAC in our system and was very impressed at how good it sounded against all the chip DAC's we compared. We did not use the noisy USB input.  We used the Denafrips Hermes DDC's outputs (2x i2s, 2x Balanced AES/EBU, Coax and optical all output simultaneously) to compare all the DACs. The SMSL SU8 Optical/coaxial sampling rate was: 32–192 kHz, DSD64 (DoP).

Then we moved on to the big boy's. :)

I would also look to see what is going on with MKII prices now that PS Audio is making something new.

The MKII is a wonderful sounding DAC with upgraded audio transformers. We have both the upgraded MK1 and the Upgraded MKII.

Them cheap stock Edcore XS4400 iron core transformers in the MKII are not very good and the Edcore 150-150 in the MK1 are even worse.

With the upgrades it’s going to be hard to beat at any price.