Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Veracity Chrysalis DAC seem to be another contender in this league as of course is the Aries Cerat Kassandra MK2 DAC. Apologies on both counts if these were raised already.

I"ll get the Ayre, but there is a short list of DAC's I'm going to want to try and listen to before I decide to keep it.  Most will have to be used for me to afford, but with the every evolving world of digital, that shouldn't be a problem.  Bricasti's, the new ODSX, EMM, Ayre's 5 series and a few others that are also from small companies like Steve's.  There really are so many great options right now.  Dealers can no longer afford to just carry a DAC line because they have the amp line. I really feel that they will need to carry three high end DAC's and a few more of the mid priced ones.  That's not to say that analog is dead or anything like that.  I still love putting on a record, but my money goes into digital right now and used records that I can usually get for under $2.

Dealers can no longer afford to carry anything if you and everyone keep buying used on the Gon. Just saying.

dcs could be an option at your price. also esoteric, emm labs and I have heard the moon 780d dac/streamer which is very good, new chord dave excellent. lots of very good choices for you at the price point you are looking. really like what I read about the ps audio but dealer friend believes moon for example has much better output stage/sound. good luck

Matt- why have you ruled out Playback Designs Merlot DAC?  Have Andreas Koch's products fallen behind or is the price for performance not in line with today's market?