DAC Under $3000

@gnoworyta "In the past I have had PS Audio Stellar, Benchmark, and Merason Frerot. I thought all were good, but not necessarily "special"

You might get more helpful responses if you provide context around what you feel was missing from the presentations of the 3 DACs you’ve had; "not necessarily special" can be widely interpreted to mean anything but maybe what you are after sound wise/emotionally engaging

I like the Schitt Yggi+ Less is More DAC more than a 7x more expensive DAC that came before it. I also have the Benchmark DAC3B from your list. The Yggi+ is better.

I also stream via fibre optic cable and that is a big benefit.

@gdnrbob 

+1 I must agree. I own an Ayre DAC and Auditioned a Yggdrasil and own a Gungnir. I would go for the Ayre. A more natural sounding DAC. 
 

When thinking about a component a bit over your price range… I always think about how long I have it and how many hours of use I get. The price becomes a little less important. The sound quality is going to be better every time you listen to it.

The Matrix X Sabre 3 is right on your budget. I have owned some vastly more expensive DACs, and the Matrix outperforms them all. Probably the best value in digital audio.

Sony has a proprietary FMGA processor they designed for their TZ-H1A headphone amp/preamp/DAC. It has filters to upconvert to DSD (which the invented with Philips). It is around $2K and if you stream or have non hirez files it is a great way to get DSD on a budget. I manly use it as a DAC in my system but the headphone amp is also great.