Recommendations on a Warm Sounding DAC under $1100.00

@tyray +1 on the uDac.  I was able to get a less than MSP price and I am very close to getting to the burn in time others have commented on.

I like it.  It is a significant improvement over my prior Cambridge DacMagic 200 (which was perfect for me at the time I bought it, and will be perfect for someone else now).

Scrolling through the menus were a tad difficult for me - but (1) that's because I am not always awesome with technology, not the device itself, (2) now that I have it set up - and I played around with settings and cables for a couple of weeks - it is totally set and forget.  

I tried out the Ares II for a few weeks and loved it - I would also recommend that.  I would love to have a Pontus 15, but right now, its a bit out of my price range.

Good luck!

PS I have heard very positive things about the Dac you do have now.  I'd love to hear one some day!

Save the money and look toward a more expensive DAC. The thing about Budget DACs is you may get to the point of looking for better sound than what you currently have. My suggestion is to look above the $2000 range, Those DACs, up the chain, usually have more detail, and so on. You may reach a threshold where you would not be spending more, often, just to upgrade your sound.

Save the money and look toward a more expensive DAC.

this in an of itself is bad advice

a well chosen dac (especially used) at ~$1000 can significantly outperform a mediocre $2000+ dac

there is a lot of innovation in this space, especially from chinese and eastern european makers... performance at lower price points (around a grand or less) is better than it has ever been

that said, to some of the other posts above, i recently bought and tried a laiv mu-dac and i was not impressed with it sonically (as nice built as it is) -- i felt the sound was meh, got rid of it in less than a week

Please disregard the prior comment.

Its "good advice" if it saves you the trouble and extra expense of making the same mistake many on this forum have made. Sure, there are several good sounding budget DACs out there. You take the chance on the lateral move and then, after a time, you decide on an upgrade. Then you may risk doubling the amount for a DAC that you may settle for. How can this be "bad advice"?

Check out Yggdrasil, Direct Stream, Musetec, or Bryston BDA. All used. 

op

suggest you get this and don’t look back (assuming you are in the us)

this one

it will outperform most other units mentioned in this thread, even the higher priced ones lol

if you get it and don’t like it, contact me, i will buy it from you :)