Higher End DACs

Only focusing on the two...

any fatal flaws with focusing on these 2 for the purposes above

I have recently auditioned the Audio Research DAC 9 together with the Aurender ACS10.
The sound is supreme abd the storage capacity is enormous and CDs can also be burned and stored.
The total cost minus the the cables is under 11K.

@djones51 I recently demoed the Matrix X-Sabre Pro and unfortunately found it one of the least compelling of the DACs I was trying (Audio Mirror T3 SE, iFi iDSD pro, Lampizator Amber 3, Shiit Bifrost 2, & PS Audio Directstream).  It sounded mellow and smooth with no noise, but didn't really build a 3 dimensional soundstage.  I found it a little grey and sterile and always just wanted to switch over and listen to one of the other dacs whenever it was up in the rotation.  That said, Apos audio gives you no-hassle 30-day free auditions, so if you're interested you can give it a shot fairly easily.  [P.S.  Of those DACs, the Audio Mirror sounded best in my system.]

@david_ten yes, i need to narrow the field somewhat, at least starting out so that i can reach out to associated dealers and get the demo pipeline going.

is there another brand or two you would otherwise start with - and why?

@djones51 yeah, that sort of what i figured..so much love for those transports though lol

I spent some time trying to get my network bridge (ie. a streamer with no dac) to sound as good as my CD transport. I eventually achieved this through cables and adjusting settings on the bridge.
And so in theory there is no need for me to play CDs.
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HOWEVER, and it is a big however, the streaming services usually only have the most recent remastered version of an album for streaming. And for many albums, and in my experience for most albums outside of classical and jazz, the most recent remaster sounds considerably worse than older mastered versions of an album.
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The reason for this is that remasters are created to make recordings sound better through earbuds for modern ears, and for in-car play, they are not designed for high end audiophile equipment on which they often sound worse. This is due to the increased compression and loudness applied to a modern (post mid 90s) remaster.
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So: if your tastes include music from pre-2000 and you are not exclusively listening to jazz and classical you should invest in a CD transport and check out older masterings of CDs. Also have a network bridge to stream Qobuz to the DAC of course. In my experience the DAC is more significant here than the bridge.
The differences you hear between DACs or between streamers is nothing compared to the differences you hear between older and newer mastering iterations of an album. On streaming services you will usually only have the often sonically poorer most recent remaster whereas with a CD transport you can listen to any version you wish.