New DACs High End Munich 2023

Wow!!! There are SOOOOO many great DACs on the market these days and most peoples suggestions are solid (not the Marantz suggestion!). The only real way to decide is to audition multiple options (preferably in your one setup) and decide what ‘you’ prefer! Zero chance that all these recommended brand options will match exactly what the OP is looking for!….

I spend a lot of time listening to DACs in this price range.  There are some great suggestions above.  Particularly I hear great things about Merason though I have not heard it personally.  Two that I didn't see come up that I think you would find interesting are:

Canor DAC 2.10.  It is ESS based but with a tube stage that softens the edges from that chip and list is $4K.  I have several dealers around the country where you can here it and I also lend this out.  8 or 9 filters are available and it fully unfolds MQA.  Tons of detail, nice staging and not fatiguing.  

The Audiobyte HydraVox is an FPGA DAC with tons of detail and a huge soundstage.  It has a reputation for being quite natural sounding and is the FPGA side of Rockna.  Lisit is $4500.  

Having had several oppo products here as points of comparison I think both would be very appealing as an upgrade.  Neither is in the league of the Playback MPD6 or MPD 8 but if you listned to either alongside the Playback you would get why I am suggesting them.  

Full disclosure, I am obviously a dealer for these products along with Playback designs.  If you can, do your best to try and hear the product in home in your system.  If does make a bid difference.  

Milpai have you narrowed down your DAC choice? 

@jayctoy , I will be looking for the following DACs, but will take my time - Chord Hugo TT2 , Terminator Plus, Okto Stereo and Bricasti. I want to visit some bigger cities before I am able to make a decision. My timeline is in the next 3-6 months.

BTW, even your Marantz SA10 is under consideration if I get a good deal. Not sure why @boostedis thinks it's not a good choice. Playback designs is way too much over what I have budgeted.

@milpai Some love it, some love to hate it, but the Musetec MH-DA005 is excellent for 3k. It was one of those DAC's that just made me smile right out of the gate early on.

I have the Gustard R26, Musetec MH-DA005, Molo Molo Tambaqui and T+A DAC 200.

I would highly recommend any and all of them given their respective price points.

Happy hunting and good luck!