What the Best Dac have you heard or owned. How could you tell it was that good.

Hello, I'm new to digital. I've been listening to Lps & FM stations for the last 50 years. I recently purchased an Onkyo RZ-50 for my 5.1.2 system. The RZ-50 allows me to stream via bluetooth. I just joined TIDAL & use the phone app to control my music. I first connected the Onkyo to my analog system via RCA's 2nd zone, which was less than stellar, but tweaking a little here & there, I got it to sound pretty good. Then I decided to switch the connections to my OPPO 203 back to my tube preamp & the SQ of the OPPO took me closer to the real thing that as missing from the Onkyo. I can only imagine how a real DAC would sound with my setup. I can now listen to albums before I decide to purchase them.

My point was, that I think I'm getting away easy.

I own a Bricasti M1 with MDX processor. I’ve heard many DACs and I thought many sounded good for digital. When I heard the M1, my impression was that it sounded good- no “for digital” qualifier 

Case closed 

+101 @kairosman The whole is equal to the sum of its parts. 

This comment isn’t directed at anyone in particular, but the goal of obtaining giant killer aka "unicorn" gear (DACs especially) has been IME a fool’s errand that’s cost me money and time better spent on just buying the very best gear I can afford and which makes sense in the context of my system’s $ level. I do believe that one doesn’t need to spend a ton to put together a good-sounding system, but for example a $20K DAC is underwhelming in a $20K system, whereas it can be a jaw dropper replacing a $7K DAC in a $70K system. A $500 negligee is money well spent if your lady is Sophie Vergara.