Recommend A New DAC Between $1000 and $2000

Oh, I was not paying attention.

A Schiit Yggdrasil DAC. Outstanding sound for the money, even if a tad over your price point. It competes favorably with DACs of twice the cost. I did a deep dive into budget DACs for a friend of mine, in the process bought a Schiit Gungnir for my office system and my got my friend to buy the Yggdrasil… great sounding DAC for the money.

Border Patrol might do it for you also maybe an AN Kits Dac.

The black ice I owned the tube gives it a warm signature but very rolled off 

the Denafrips basic Aries is much better ,the pontus2+ a excellent dac 

and the new Gustard r2r26 is excellent ,add the synergistic purple fuses it is better then my pontus2 dac   
I am saving for a true reference the T&A  200 dac ,which is exceptional .

I’m using an smsl su-9pro it’s natural sounding since you can turn off all filtering and can reach 135db which is also very nice and the price is 500 usd. 

+++ Denafrips Pontus II. I have had mine for nearly a year, and still love it. Certainly the best DAC under $2,500 IMO…..and I’ve heard a few. It has the traits you are looking for, with just a hint of warmth.

The newest Pontus II 12th Anniversary edition has even more improvements over the standard DAC…..and for $1,850