Best DAC for around $2,500 or less

Lampizator Amber 3. I have compared it to the Yggy and it's no contest. 

I'm very happy with my Exogal  Comet Plus

The Exogal Comet is considered a high performance digital to analog audio converter playing up to 32/384k and DSD.The Comet does everything l like my DAC to do, including balanced and unbalanced analog outputs, digital volume control and asynchronous USB input. I bought mine as a demo for $2,000 with optional power supply

Thanks everyone for sharing their thoughts and recommendations.  It's been an educational experience.  I ended up buying an Audio Mirror Trubidor III used here on Audigon just now.  For now, the Node 2i will be the streamer until I'm able to update that to a dedicated streamer.    What is your preferred method to hook up your digital source to your DAC?  From the Node it looks like my options are either Coax or Optical.  I think I'll go with balanced XLR's from the DAC to the pre-amp.  

I also have the AM Tubadour and love it.  I would use coax over optical. 

While I have no idea if it’s the “best” under $2500, I too have been mighty impressed by the RME ADI-2. It is really smooth and detailed and comes pretty damn close to my PS Audio DirectStream - the PS Audio is more analog sounding for sure, with better scale, but in other aspects I have to strain to hear the difference. It’s impressed me much more than the Ayre Codex I had a while back. Need to try it with a better power supply, I suspect it may help the bass and scale. Review forthcoming.