DAC Under $3000

+1 Lab 12 reference DAC (bought Mint  6 mo used $1800) with 1960 French Phillips (Mazda, RT, Dario Miniwatt) e188cc tubes is fantastic.

+1 Also have a Black Ice Audio DSD Glass DAC with 1950 Rca 12AX7 Blackplate It is really good and plays way above its price and doesn’t get a lot of attention. Bought 3 years back $650.  

Love my LAB 12 DAC 1 Ref.    Bought new,  traded a preamp toward it ,cost about $1600 out of pocket.    One of my most musically satisfying components ever.  

I have a Musician Aquarius for sale on the “other” site for a really great price. It’s the best digital I’ve ever heard in my house. Haven’t heard the stupid price stuff by way better than the 1-1.5k dacs I had before.

Of all the DACs I’ve owned the Electrocompaniet ECD-2 best fits that description. To my ears it has the “layering” and lush midrange of an NOS DAC but all the resolution of the measurement kings like Benchmark and Chord. Its measurements are nearly SOTA but it also has just enough color and warmth to keep it from becoming clinical or glassy. It retails for $3K but can occasionally be found pre-owned for much less. 

I’ve had the Qutest for 4+ years and think it is super detailed and really special sounding with a huge soundstage and preciese pinpointing of instruments. I’m ready to replace it due to its age. But it’s so good it’s difficult to find anything under $5k that tops it. I may try one of the ones I listed above but I’m unsure if they’ll be better or just different.

There are many DACs under $3K that outclass the Qutest IME. I owned the Qutest twice (the second time bought it for a great price with the sole purpose of flipping) and while it does have good resolution, it’s relatively 2-dimensional, lean and edgy. That’s only relative to some other good performing DACs, a couple of which cost considerably less than the Qutest: the Marantz HD-DAC1 and Denafrips Ares II. 
 

I can imagine a Qutest making for great synergy with a Mac anchored system. So of course, things aren’t always apples-to-apples.