How much should I spend on a new DAC

Herb Reichert from Stereophile who does not review the priciest equipment raved about the new Rotel dac and cd transport for under $2500. He said that his pricier dacs were not better necessarily. He did not mention which pricier dacs but I do believe it may well be the Holo May Dac (because he owns it and he compared Rotel to a pricier ladder dac).

This is just to say I dont think a 5K dac is necessarily better than a 2.5K dac.

I use a benchmark dac3 and depending on the associated equipment it can sound great or mediocre. If you feed the benchmark the right combination of tube amplification and the right speakers and cabling and it sounds deep accurate compelling and very enjoyable. On the other hand I have heard the same benchmark dac with same benchmark preamp LA4 sound clinical or too bright if not the right synergy.

bottom line imho its more about the synergy of quality components than the idea that one quality component is ideal for any situation.

I also have two marantz 30N universal players and in one system it sounds fantastic right now and in the other system it currently is uninvolving.....so its not the equipment imho....its the relationship between all the equipment and your room and the power distribution in that room too

This I can tell you I bought the R26 , I added a lower price pangea sig 14 mk2 using Cardas best -0 Crystal copper $140 and the Synergistic purple fuse was a nice jump up in imaging depth of ,and dynamics, give it a solid play 24-7for a week ,I use the Isotek breakin cd , then use track3 asa tune up tape every other day it’s only a 5 minute sweep . $340 is not much if you listen to music often, it brings this very good dac into a higher range of quality,refined sound 

left in non oversampling mode.

I recently purchased the TEAC UD-701N and I am extremely pleased with its excellent qualities, particularly the transparency of vocals, resolution, and clarity. The unit is currently in the burn-in process, so I anticipate even further improvements in these aspects. Will keep you updated!