DAC league table

When budget is tight, iFi Zen Stream is imho the best bang to the buck.  Both usb and rca digital outputs has been purified to eradicate the jitter so it really sounds great.  People have reported its SQ is comparable to 7 or 8 times price gear.  I pair it with Schiit or Smsl dacs and results are sensational.  Of course you could get higher end dac if budget is not an issue.  Also, I am not sure if you stream Qobuz but, if you do, as of today the ZS works well with mconnect player Lite or mconnect player on iphone to provide bitperfect streaming from Qobuz.  I am using the free Lite version and I see the DAC shows the actual hi-rez resolution of the original track.

I, too, am considering a new DAC.  The EISA award for this category was a Musical Fidelity unit that sells for $2199.  I have a CD play from MF circa 1998 and it has a way to make even bad CD's sound great.  I would love to audition it if there was a dealer anywhere around.

I like my BlueSound Node 2i.  I would be curious to do a blind test with other streamers if I could hear the difference.

I have a Murantz for our family room surround system.  I would not consider Murantz to be audiophile quality.  I have it hooked up to a custom installed Definitive Technologies speakers and it is certainly  much better to listening to TV speakers.  I have no idea how people can listen to TV speakers or a sound bar.

Marantz have product in a wide price range, just saying 😉

I echo "tcotruvo" except I'm using a Node 2i and an SMSL SU-9 (slightly less expensive DAC). I also added the PD Creative board and a linear power supply. Since Node 2i is older model and should be able to find at great price. So this combo should be significantly less than a $1K and might still fit that budget with the cost of a decent LPS. (I'm using an Allo Shanti dual LPS; feeds Node 2I & network switch).The Node & SMSL DAC are an excellent combination. But I"ve done other upgrading by using higher quality DC and network cables and an audio quality network switch (Silent Angel Bonn N8). I think power/electricity is critically important. So I'm running off a dedicated 20 amp circuit, high end Furotech receptacles and cover plates and high quality power cables. And lastly upgraded McCormack DNA 0.5 power amp and Spica monitor speakers. And I'm an enthusiastic Roon user, running on an Intel Nuc core with Tidal streaming. All together great and totally accessible musical environment!!