What is the best DAC ever made?

The APL DAC is coming soon. Reasonably priced, too.

I'll second the Meridian 861. :)

Well, Ertugrul and Tbg, I am proceeding with the purchase of the pre-loved Kondo KSL DAC. I'll let you know what I think when it arrives in a couple of weeks.

Well said Erturul.

FWIW I have yet to hear an analog front end that convincingly betters the Zanden 2000/Signature combo. I am an analog guy and have had many fine tt/arm/cart combos (best was a Micro seiki sx 8000 with Air Tangent and Zyx Universe, But when comoared head to head the digital wins about 80% of the time overall.
I would love to hear the KSL dac vs the Zanden Signature!

I don't know if it "smokes" the competition, but I bought the Accustic Arts Transport/DAC combo mentioned above - it is indeed a wonderful "unit". Of course I have not compared with Esoteric/DCS/EMM etc (but Teajay did - he bought the AA), but only to my ARC CD3 MKII and Audio Logic DAC. The AA as a combo unit is better, but I still think the Audio Logic 24MXL is one of the great units comparable to anything out there. At the used prices of $2000 or so, I think it is a great deal.