How do you assess a DAC?

I’m thinking max £4k for a streamer and then upgrade the DAC later in the year.

That’s a great plan and a really nice budget for a great streamer.  I’d recommend checking out the new Innuos Pulse streamer.  It’s a bit under your budget and packs a lot of Innuos’ latest thinking along with their excellent Sense app that’s constantly being updated for better performance and sound, and if ever needed they also have outstanding customer service.  Best of luck and do keep us posted on your future choices for both streamer and DAC and your thoughts on both if you could.  Best of luck in your quest!

@dinov  +1

OP, in my opinioin it would be most helpful to you if you could compare several DAC's/streamers including a DAC in your personal listening environment (room, gear). This, and only this will make sure you will be satisfied after your purchase.

'opinion' sorry...

Thanks again to everyone for their input. After a day of research and reading reviews online I think I’m going to go for an Auralic G1.1 with the 2TB harddrive upgrade and a Roon subscription. I can then sell on the Sonos Port, dispense with the Mac to DAC USB connection for the attached harddrive with my music on, and remove the CD player from the chain and get a USB powered CD ripper for any CDs that I have which I can’t find on Qobuz.

I’d suggest looking at the Innuos Zen that is a streamer and also has an onboard CD drive and onboard storage so you can rip all your CDs directly into it so all in one box and is about the same price as the Auralic. Plus it includes their excellent Sense app that gets high marks for both sound quality and interface and is constantly being upgraded to improve both, and they offer very good customer support if ever needed. Just another option to explore.

https://www.tweekgeek.com/innuos-zen-mk3/