$10k DAC in a 3k system?

I have not posted in some time so I'll shoot you straight! Everything in this world is relevant to ones own prior personal experiences including Audio. Source is the perfect way to start your upward mobility. Start with a great DAC and then feed it the cleanest music signal you can next via a decent transport and you will love it. Don't listen to the people that say your speakers are not good enough. You like them and enjoy the way they sound so they are fine for now and your system to you (the only one that matters will sound WAY better) as the source is the most important in my opinion at least to the person that is making a huge jump like that. If you have $10k to spend on a DAC and you love digital music then that's a great way to spend the money. It's how I spent my money and I LOVE my DAC! Love it! I like it better than my car and I have a decent car. Every single upgrade down the line will shine and each incremental improvement will all be laid bare as the source will be the high water mark. Pick up a mint, used Bricasti for $6,500 and blow your mind. That Shit gear - wrong spelling is solid mid fi and will be a nice improvement over what you have but you will grow out of that quick. Once you a own a big daddy DAC you will be running with the big dogs and you'll love it. I assume you have the funds so as long as the doe involved isn't personally prohibitive you will love it. Don't be surprised though that the bump in Performance is so sweet you will start chasing more resolving amps and speakers but tying down the source up front is the way to go. It's like starting a new football team - what's the first premium chip you want to add? A quarter back - everyone will say but you need receivers and an o-line to block for him etc etc but you get that quarterback first if you can. The DAC is the quarterback that you build around as you go while loving each improvement along the way! Careful though - it's a slippery slope - once you get a taste of the good stuff you keep Jonesing more and more and the chase is on so beforwarned a killer DAC can be like opening Pandora's box but heck that's where it's at! Good luck - Buy used on here - Bricasti $6500 - DirectStream $3,500 - Meitner $4000 - EMM Labs - $6000 - DCS $5000 - MBL - $6000 I'm not a lampi guy because they come out with a new model every other week and the old one drops in value but they make nice sounding stuff for sure but $4000 - $6000 can get you a seat at the table. Good luck! 

After i listened to these DAC,s 
If i had the money to spend i sure
WOULD. Then i would   change that 
AMP out.   I do like proAc line 
 Then 4 more English brands 
 THEN 2 MORE THEN  B&W 

Can't agree more with fsmithjack, that the source first approach is the right one and with bigkidz. If you leave your source and upgrade downstream, it will sound different and maybe even "better", but the limit will always be the signal fed into the chain of equipment. I guess: It's possible that you like your current system because you can listen to it for long periods without getting tired. If so, then it is probably because it sounds natural to your ear - good musicality (described in more detail by bigkidz). In my experience it is very easy to mess this up when you upgrade downstream (cables of equipment) only as better downstream equipment may sound more impressive and revealing etc, etc, but it cannot improve the fundamental quality of the sound - the musicality - coming from the source. Only a better source can do this. As a matter of fact I found that even though a downstream upgrade sounds all that better at first, it leads to listeners' fatigue quite quickly. The example mentioned by larryi has been experienced over and over many times and has been reported on by many audiophiles around the world - this may be a hint in itself of where to look for the best upgrade path. Once a source of the right "level" (as can only be judged by yourself wrt money, musicality etc) is in place, the enjoyment will improve significantly. This should last for a long time. Then a cautious selection of the right downstream upgrades (as per almarg post) will yield improvement without degrading the musicality of the system. All this of course IMHO.

 The T + A DAC 8 DSD is incredible for $4k. If you can hear this DAC you will be amazed by it. I have a Chord Dave which I love but would totally be just as happy with the T+ A DAC for 6k less money. 

I have the dave dac and see it as sort of an end game dac. It is much better than my previous dac (ayre codex) and it will probably stay in your system for many years while you start upgrading the other components.  Also-just add a pair of top line headphones to the dave and you have a state of the art system for headphone listening while you save your other pennies.