shtr74sims Hello Folks,
As a long-timer who waited till emotions were finally triggered in the late 90's by a digital source (Arcam Alpha 9 with dCS Ring dac)...I'm reluctant "investing" in DAC technology. Then again, I've a restricted audio budget and am happy for those who are able. As one who prefers to "rest" on my choices for a long run, I've been steered to the Pro side of dacs and am bi-amping to a pair of subwoofers using a Focusrite Clarett Pro4, paying LOTS of attention to grounding and great power management.
A close nearby friend has the ideal large space, great modern gear and is on his third upgrade of the Lampizator DAC - pushing $20K full retail. We share the same "flavors" towards our endgame, and I love visiting him. That said, I'm never sad to come home to stream from my PC to my outboard dac. The super-quiet and revealing Focusrite fully allows me to focus on larger paths to great sound with ample resolution, quiet, dynamics and presentation...easily competing with the big guys.
Again, I'm simply stating...the final small percentage of improvement in going to world class dacs might be money better spent elsewhere in the system. Me, I'm always looking for ways to remove UNWANTED distortions and resonances.
shtr74sims, it appears that you already have decided on a big-boy dac, and that's great! Bonne chance my audio friend. More Peace, Pin