$5K DAC OPTIONS

In that price range look at Holo May. I would buy if I wanted to go that high. My Gustard R26 just shipped from china today. Can’t wait!

Slightly above your budget, but I expect to keep my Aqua La Scala for many years to come, and prefer to the Merason DAC 1. 

The Denafrips terminator2 is $4600 exceptional if you want excellent detail a very natural 

analog type sound and very big soundstage with a deep front to back image depth 

I bought one now looking to upgrade to the $2k more Terminator +, to someit maynot be worth the extra $2k. But if you want that last few % in low level detail 

and just a bit better then it’s worth it but-the T-2 is a bit more analog when streaming even lesser quality music sounds very good .

You have a lot of Simaudio. Have you considered the 280D? Nice streaming DAC. A little below your budget at $4k. I picked one up earlier this summer and really like it a lot. 

I would at least try the new Gustard R26 discrete R2R. Much cheaper, looks very promising.