Looking for a DAC under 2k

@traudio I also use an opticalRendu and recently had the same question. Hear to echo comments about how terrific the Denafrips Pontus II is. 
I've owned many dacs made all over the world from PS Audio -US, Metronome - France, Meridian - UK and others. The construction quality, fit/finish and most importantly, sound quality from the Denafrips are hard to rival. While I own American speakers, amp & preamp, along with a Swiss phono stage, my Denafrips doesn't in any way seem out of place or make you think Chinese = cheap. 
The Chord Qutest was the alternative that got the most consideration from me. After researching, although both are beloved by many, my take was that the Denafrips provided more of the design elements found in SOTA DACs( e.g. balanced, dual mono ladders & power supply). You can see that you're getting lots of value for your investment. That coupled with positive experiences listening to Denafrips, and voila. Cheers,
Spencer 

I'll consider looking at a Denafrips, but at the moment I leaning strongly towards re buying a PS Audio that I sold a few months back.
FYI, the company I work for has all of our products made in China, and I work with them daily, They CAN and DO make good products, (and they work really cheap) but it takes having people that work for us in place over there to inspect, lots of communications and supervision. 
They don't run production the way we do in the US. We have in process checks and inspections at most every step.They tend to run a product start to finish and check the results at the very end of the process. 
Therefore it's possible get a whole container load of product that can have many bad items in it, and you usually don't discover the issue until it lands in the hands of the consumer. I think my issue (and some friends) with iFi confirms this. Just my experience. 

They don’t run production the way we do in the US. We have in process checks and inspections at most every step. They tend to run a product start to finish and check the results at the very end of the process.

You’re doubling down on a dubious stereotype, and I’m being charitable with my language. Many of the electronics that people rely on daily around the world (e.g. TVs, smartphones, etc.) are manufactured in China, and are obviously highly reliable.

To avoid buying a Chinese product that has received virtually nothing short of rave reviews (e.g. a Denafrips DAC) solely because it is Chinese is analogous to someone having avoided buying Japanese products in the 1970s based on a similarly anachronistic reputation.

Of course there are exceptions, as there are a huge number of companies that operate in China. But the one that we are discussing was incorporated in 2012, is a boutique operation (originally five employees; now 40-50), and has a worldwide sales and distribution agent (Alvin Chee) based in Singapore, who is exceptionally responsive to questions and/or problems with the products.

Denafrips describes its production process and materials used here:

https://www.denafrips.com/single-post/2020/06/26/who-are-we-denafrips-explained

To be clear, I don’t care if anyone buys products from them, even though I am quite happy with my Pontus. I am pressing the point simply because I think that any moderately serious research will reveal that the company is well run, and makes excellent products. The fact that they happen to be a Chinese company is, in my view, irrelevant.

+1 for Denafrips.  I'm very happy with my Ares II.  

whipsaw,
I’m just passing on my experiences, not stereotyping. I’m sure Denafrips is a fine product, especially if it’s a smaller company that’s not contracted to make products that aren’t their own. IOW it sounds like they have some skin in the game.
The companies I deal with are basically contractors that make products for several companies within the same product area.
Also, I like being able to either pick up the phone, get a response on their forum, or an e mail within a reasonable amount of time if I have a problem or question.