Best route to go for new dac?

Schitt Bitfrost 2 over Topping D90. Same price, user upgradable, and highly regarded. Sound is all that matters so try it for 15 days free and return if not satisfied. Made in USA.

J.Chip

I own the Topping D90 and found that it greatly improved all aspects of my music vs the Bluesound Node 2i with a DAC built in. The Schiit multibit also look good for the money. Denafrips and Border Patrol are also a good choice. You will find a great improvement no matter what you choose.  Apos Audio has 30 day return and doubles the warranty on their DAC.  Schiit also has a good return policy.  Both companies are top notch.

Under $1,000, really anything in blue will do:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/master-sinad-distortion-comparison-graph-...

I went with the SMSL SU-8 v2 and love it. My software front end is generally Foobar2000 playing FLAC files and using the SRC resampler to perform a straight 4x upsample on the computer side prior to D/A conversion.

So what hits the DAC is usually either 16/176 or 24/384, unless I’m being lazy and listening to 320kb MP3’s on Spotify and then it’s just straight 16/48.

The SMSL M500 measures better than my SU-8, decodes MQA and DSD and also has a headphone amp stage that nearly measures as well as the new THX AAA products, which makes it a crazy value. 

I know value is a dirty word around here though so /shrug 

MHDT no volume control

Ayre Codex