Best Bang for your Buck DAC ?

Borrowed my friends Orchid that he raves about a while back. Sound varied between "I like it", and "this sounds like an MP3". I can see the attraction, but I was too often aware of something "wrong". Would have drove me crazy.  

+1 Schiit Modi 3

Soekris totally sold out

In my limited experience I have used the Schiit Bifrost 4490, Denafrips Ares II, Topping D90/D50, and the DACs included in the PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell DAC and the Bluesound Node 2 - nothing too crazy.   My order of preference - Denafrips by a large margin, then Topping D90, PSGCD, Topping D50 and Bifrost.  I could live with any of those, but the Bluesound didn't measure up to any of the others in A/B testing, IMO, but the Node 2/2i (if you want streaming capabilities too) is a good for-now choice and you can get them used for a good price, and if you decide to get a better DAC in the future, you can still use the Node streaming capabilities.  I would find a used Ares II and be done with it (they do come up on eBay from time to time, and really the warranty directly from the company isn't all that much better), or the most expensive Topping or Schiit you feel comfortable buying.  If you need/want MQA decoding, then that narrows the field a bit. 

RME. Nothing else compares.