A moderate priced dac

The Chord Qutest DAC is a little out of your price range ($1800), but it has received high praise in every review I’ve seen and is considered an outstanding value. There’s a used one for sale on Audiogon right now for $1400. I own one and am very happy with it. I recommend checking the following review out and then looking for a used one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlfCWUbmyGE&t=4s

I paid over $2,000.00 for a PS Audio UltraLink II back in 1994. It did the job for 26 years, but earlier this year I bought a SMSL SU-8, which you can buy for under $250.00. The SU-8 sounds much better, plus is fully balanced and has a remote control . State of the art in digital technology is a moving target, so what you buy today will be bettered by something cheaper in the not too distant future.

I couple that SU-8 with an SH-8 headphone amp and the combination works wonderfully. There is zero background noise, and the music just appears out of that silence.

I’ve been looking at a GUSTARD DAC-X20 Pro.
Any one have experience with it
Goes for about $800 new, $4-$500 used. 

@oldschool1948 

tubed dacs are excellent. You are in for a real treat. And the statement no less 😊

@mountainsong I even found the perfect wave dac mk2 to outperform psa's directstream. Tried to upgrade to the dsd twice over there past five years and ended up reselling the dsd both times.