What is the best DAC ever made?

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.

And finieto do you already have your Kondo Ksl dac?

Did you use the airtangent with the standard air pump? How did you find the bass with the zyx? I heard the At on the Lagrange with the emt cartridge and it lacked weight and extension in the bass compared though the AT was sublime apart from that. Have you compared with the kuzma airline at all?

can someone explain to me the purpose of asking for the best dac, preamp, amp, speaker, cable, cd player ever made ?

it seems that such a question has no definitive answer and any answer is just an opinion. in fact, there is no best component of any type, so why ask the question.

this question appears so often, and each time i wonder why the question is asked. perhaps someone can enlighten me.

thanks