DAC’s

@shtr74sims 

The MA3 is a terrific dac, but there are alot of terrific dacs out there today. The streamer in the MA3 is alot better than many would have you believe but like everything else in audio, it can be bettered. It is a nice feature to have while you are building your system and depending on the rest of your gear you buy, you will have opportunities to enhance your system once you have decided next steps.

What do you believe the rest of your system will eventually be, what is your overall budget and what are your musical/tonal preferences?

I am in the camp of seperate streamer and DAC.

With AES connection between dac and streamer.

In that price range check out entry level units from

TotalDAC from France for the DAC and for the streamer check out Baetis from Canada.

I have this and am quite happy 

Cheers

@shtr74sims I run a Bricasti M3 with integrated network player and I find it excellent. Strong performance from the built in network player (beat out Lumin U1 Mini) and very good synergy with my Pass pre and amp. You will need either the M-Connect or Roon with it (I use Roon).
Never heard the Meitner dac. But highly recommend you audition Bricasti.

@holmz 

good advice ...

The DAC is the heard of a digital system.  I say it should be your most expensive piece of equipment in most systems.  I haven't heard the DAC you reference so I can't comment.  You'll get a lot of comments from guys that read a lot of reviews, thus items on stereophile's recommended list are presented like expert advice.

I am a big fan of Chord Dave (for reference).

I also like to separate streamer and DAC but I am a much bigger fan of a DAC with an onboard streamer than a streamer with an onboard DAC.  Sounds like this piece of equipment is built around a great DAC.  

Jerry