What DAC upgrade made you say “DAMN, that sounds SO MUCH better than my last DAC”?

I replaced my Marantz HD-DAC1 with a Denafrips Pontus II and it elevated the SQ of my system to a whole new level. The Pontus greatly improved soundstage and definition while smoothing out any digital harshness.  I purchased the Marantz to be used as a combination headphone amp / DAC and its now being used with my PC.  I am now convinced that a quality standalone DAC is essential to any digital system. 

@spitzfish  (if there really is a spitzfish who has come here, it seems, only to do a job on the LKS DAC)

I am the OP on the original LKS DAC thread.  Of the unmodified LKS DAC Ric Shultz wrote in the Audio Asylum, "Also the LKS has fully discrete output stages....not op amps. Sounds great too! Incredible value."  At the time I did an internet survey of comparisons of the LKS to other DACs and found that, unmodified, it was preferred or equal to 18 popular DACs, most of which cost more, sometimes far more, than the LKS.

Moreover, I have followed the developments of its modifications through 4,323 posts on its modifications thread over at head-fi.  Ric's modification of the LKS, costing only $500 (very cheap as "professional" modifications go) is extremely simple compared to what is actually being accomplished with this unit.  I cannot evaluate Ric's mods for I have not heard them.   But in the 4 1/2 years that the original thread has been up on Audiogon, the only praise for Ric Shultz's mod has come from Ric Shultz.

I can only assume that things are slow over at tweakaudio.

In any event, sensing, by virtue of the mods over at head-fi, that folks are looking for substantial increases in SQ, the LKS designer, now Musetec, added to his offerings a new design which is the subject of two threads here.  

what is the point of your post?
Ric´s modification is (too) expensive?
for me it was worth every Euro!