Higher End DACs


I am looking for a DAC (potentially streamer&DAC) to be paired in a mcintosh system (c1100/611). Its my first foray into digital streaming and I have no need for a CD player.

I see a lot of love for Esoteric, however, most seems to be around their transports? Are they not as renowned for pure digital streaming and/or standalone DACs? I see DCS (for instance) often referenced for standalone DACs - how does Esoteric compare?
ufguy73
Please let’s not turn this thread in a MQA debate. The MQA proponents and detractors are strongly entrenched in their own respective bunkers, and such debates can only lead to flame wars
Roon seriously exaggerates the CPU they need, so long as you aren’t resampling to DSD.

I use an AMD A 10 78xx and with several EQ functions engaged it barely gets to 4% CPU utilization. Even PCM upsampling is negligible.