How much should I spend on a new DAC

OP.

I bought an Auralic Altair G1 streamer/DAC one box solution. I am ecstatic. It is so simple and the quality is extremely good for the price of around $3,500 USD. It punches way above its price point. BTW I use Quobuz.

Bruce

I'll tell you what....buy the Musical Fidelity v90 dac and call it a day. If you can still find one, they are usually $299 new. It's all you need and sounds wonderful. Sterephile agrees...

Jamnesta brought up a super interesting option, the brand new Gustard a26. After looking into it, it would be my first choice if I move away from the x26. Gustard is really putting the pressure on the competition. 

 If anything I would get rid of the Pass amp and get an amp with a lot more power, say 200wpc. The Pass's 25wpc is really limiting the dynamic capabilities of the Sonus Faber speakers!

Good grief.

Pass Labs specifies the XA25's output power as 25Wpc into 8 ohms and 50Wpc into 4 ohms (both equivalent to 14dBW). However, as you can see in figs. 4 and 5, the amplifier exceeded its specified power output at the clipping point, which we define as when the THD+noise equals 1%. At that THD+N percentage the XA25 delivered 80Wpc into 8 ohms (19dBW) and 130Wpc into 4 ohms (18.1dBW). It appears from the shape of the traces in these graphs that Pass specifies the XA25's power as when the THD+N is close to 0.01%

https://www.stereophile.com/content/pass-laboratories-xa25-power-amplifier-measurements

The amp and speakers are fine for moderate listening levels, unless you crank it up a lot and expect maximum dynamics. Ignore the naysayers who don’t understand lower power Pass amps, or never owned one. Ditch the noisy computer front end, and the 9038 equipped project dac that makes it even more grainy. No, its not just zeroes and ones. Having less noise and a darker background on your front end matters, musically. Yes, as stated many times already - a good streamer and dac are in order and will help if you truly want your handle to be true @celestial__sound

Try to 45-day buy-demo at least two different streamers/dacs, paired with a really good power supply (quieter) and you’ll hear and realize the difference first hand. Lots of good suggestions here, above. See R2R Ladder NOS dacs, or Auralic, Gustard, Innuous, others. >>Read up on the numerous prior R2R Ladder DAC threads here on Agon too<<. Your Pass Labs amp and Sonus Faber speakers deserve a lot better upstream. Best of Luck.