looking for a dac

brace yourself, you're about to get a flurry for recommendations for the bluenode 2i indicating its an outstanding value in the under $1,000 (and even under $500) price range.  In my experience you need to step up into the $2,000 range to get anything substantially better. So I guess I will be the first to recommend and then I will let others pile on ;-)

Starting Point systems NOS dac TDA 1543.... With these cheap price dac I forget all future possible upgrade at any price...Rightly implemented this battery dac that I drive with an external lithium battery has no defect at all in my system and to my ears … The risk is low you can buy one used for around 100 bucks...My system is Sansui AU-7700 amplifier with Mission cyrus 781 speakers,akg K 701 headphone, a very good system, entirely cleaned of vibrations and resonance that sound so great that I smile  without any idea of upgrading it...Impossible to really upgrade that under 20,000 bucks...I say that to give to you a context for my advice with a dac...The dac is in my experience the most difficult piece to buy if we want a good ratio quality/price...I am lucky...

thanks for the responses
all the info i can gather is most helpful