I would recommend stretching to a Schiit Gungnir multibit. It is $1,299. It if you are trying to assemble a good system, this is an excellent sounding DAC for the money. In general will outperform DACs of far greater cost. Natural sounding, detailed with a low noice floor. Equipment in this price category tends to either be a bit shrill, have high frequency distortion, or high noise floor (not something easy to directly if you are new to this pursuit). I did an extensive product survey and purchased one to confirm its performance before my friend bought a Yggdrasil… even more highly recommended, but more expensive.
What associated equipment are you planning on using? Are you planning on upgrading over time. If you associated equipment is of very inferior quality and you are not planning on upgrading then this might be too ambitious recommendation.
