To DAC or not to DAC ?

Here are 2 DACs that will make a significant difference in the price range.

1) Topping D90SE. Maybe the best mesauring DAC and it sounds so clean and detailed. I love this DAC with my warm CODA amp. It costs $900 new. This one uses the ESS chip while the D90 uses the chip which had the factory fire (forgot the name)

2) The Gustard X26 Pro. I just sold it for $925 last week. It is on sale today for $1275

GUSTARD X26 PRO Full Decoding ES9038Pro*2 Chip DSD512 Bluetooth 5.0 X (shenzhenaudio.com)

This is a warmer DAC and not as detaieed as the Topping D90SE or Benchmark DAC3B, but pretty close. It also has NOS | OS mode with 4 filters for each mode. The sound does change with the filters. This is a great DAC for the price. I sold it to buy the Musetec 005 which is also on sale today for $2969. So that is a big jump in price.

@fullers If you are also considering preamps that have no sound to them, the Topping pre90 ($600) sounds like the Benchmark LA4 ($2600). Both are like wore with gain and do not seem to add to the sound. They measure the same and sound the same. However, the LA4 works great with every amp I had while the pre90 has only worked properly (the volume) with my Benchmark AHB2 amp and Parsound A21+ amp. Not so with a CODA #8 or a few Class D amps I have now sold.

There are a few people on ASR website using the pre90 as their preamp, such as a Stereophile reviewer. He dumped his Benchmarlk LA4 for the pre90. I plan on dumping my pre90 and keeping my LA4.

This is just a very low cost suggestion to get a reference level nuetral sounding preamp. If you want warmth then these 2 preamps are not the correct choices.

Have you ever thought about a used PS Audio Direct Stream DAC and Bridge 11 combination. They can be had quite cheaply now if you scout round then you could have Streamer, DAC and Preamp all in one and have a piece of hardware more comensurate with your other equiptment and also get some money for your other stuff into the bargain. 

A standalone DAC makes a huge difference in SQ over using a component's onboard DAC.  I replaced a combo Headphone Amp / DAC with a Denafrips Pontus II and it was day and night. I run both my Buesound Node 2i and Audiolab CD transport into the Pontus and have never looked back on my decision. Which DAC to buy will depend on your listening tastes. Denafrips makes R2R ladder DACs which are described as having a "natural" sound. If you're on a budget, the Ares II is their entry level DAC.  

Thst makes no sense you need to spend $ 5-6 k

like the Bricasti M3 dac- streamer $6500:retail  would be perfect and night and day better ,for I owned  Krell and latest dac not even close  and the Freda 

is in the beginners class of audio in comparison to the Krell amp,and Wilson 

quality does count !!