Most organic / real / analogue sounding DAC (ideally with Volume Control) for $1500??????

I think my point is being missed as I’m a huge analog guy - vinyl is by far the most enjoyable and emotionally stirring format to listen to music provided you are set up properly, which is unfortunately linked to a price floor. In my experience there is a performance-to-price inflection point. Once you get into the $3K+ range with analog - including table, phono stage, and cart - analog begins to really distance itself from that $1500 digital front end. In fact you will have to start throwing lots of money (think multiples here) towards an exceptional DAC (like Lampizator) to start to get anywhere close to that $3K+ analog rig.

Some $500 Rega table + $500 Project Tube Box preamp + $500 Ortofon MM cart just isn’t going to a match a $1500 Benchmark DAC3 or Qutest.

I enjoyed the analog like sound of the EAR Acute for 14 years.  I recently replaced it with the COS Engineering D-2 DAC.  I already have an all tube audio system and I relish the added detail, dimension and dynamics of the COS and it isn't cheap.  Wonderful stepped resistor volume control and anti-jitter one second delay feature for music only, no delay for video.  I have 7,000 CDs, many great remastering with 25,000 LPs and usually not as well mastered.  I love analog when it's good but most of my CDs sound good to great as well.  So many mediocre LPs with great performances, many never to be transferred to digital CD or streaming.

I prefer my second-hand Levinson no.36 (R-2R) DAC over my upsampling no.390S CDP. 

The differences are subtle - but important in longer listening, for sure. 

Most, if not all, older hi-end DACs will not have volume control, other than the 'bit stripping' kind. So not an option in my listening experience. 

I got my ML36 for some $500 not too long ago, and for a ~25 year old item it sounds as good as my best sounding analogue - given the right source material. 
However, like this item, older high-end R-2R DACs will of course not be able to decode higher than '20'/48.
I do not listen to streaming so no issue, as well recorded CDs sound fabulous and seriously challenge my pretty hi-end analogue sound (SME 10A tt, SME V tonearm, Ortofon Cadanza Black). 
M. 🇿🇦 

Yes the No.36 dac and No.39 cd-player were some of their best R2R units and sound better than the later Delta Sigma based stuff, and hard to find get for a good price, THEY KNOW😢

Cheers George

While most seem to say that vinyl sounds better than digital, digital also can sound great. Digital also offers the following advantages:
- cheaper price of admission
- cheaper media
- more available media
- much more available songs, albums
- purchase songs and not whole albums
- creating playlists
- portable devices
- can be easily copied to a variety of storage devices
- the audio performance/technology is growing at an incredible rate
- the convenience of streaming
- the ability to access vast libraries of songs through subscription services including high res files
- the ability to attach metadata to the album/songs, like asking which albums did this artist perform on, biographies, full credits, etc
- the convenience to choosing songs through my iPad while sitting down and not having to battle gravity by getting my lazy ass up except for snack reloads and bathroom breaks (two highly motivated activities)

Why choose? I have both audio chains.

However, there are some aspects of lowering the noise floor in digital that drives me little crazy thinking about:
fiber optic filtering interconnect and Ethernet, linear power supplies, signal re-generators, master clocks, audiophile Ethernet cards, stacking audiophile Ethernet cards, vibration control surfaces, additional cabling, cost

Sometimes it seems like:
Obsessive Me
           vs
my bank account, WAF, family, friends, the rest of the world MINUS like minded audiophiles