Help choosing a DAC

op

i trust you have seen my long thread on dacs i have tried (and commented on in length) on this board

i run a similar system as yours

i would say buy a used pontus 2 used at a good price ($1200-1400), try it, and you can resell it dollar for dollar if you think you want a little more overt treble detail and touch less midrange/midbass warmth (that is what a venus 2 will give you), then you wait for a venus 2 to show up used

don’t get sucked into denafrips' latest or 12th edition 12-1 12-2 etc etc all that abject nonsense (which is what it is) -- pontus 2 or venus 2 is what you should look for if you want value for $ spent on denafrips gear

I owned both Denafrips Terminator 2 and Pontus 2. 
The Terminator checked all the audiophile boxes but I found Pontus to be more musical and engaging. Buy it used and you can sell it for pretty much what you paid for it. Good luck!

shrapnel,

you could try the Wyred4sound 10th anniversary DAC, one of the reviewers put it up against his VPI turntable with a $5,000 Japanese cartridge on it and he said that the 10th anniversary DAC was every bit as analog sounding, on that review I bought it, it's $4,500 US and I totally agree it is the most analog DAC that I've had in my system and they have a 30-day trial period if you don't like it you can send it back and get all your money back.

I have listen to so many different DAC’s my head hurts. 90 % of them are all linked by me in same class. OK but have different underlying sound problems. Not real sounding & colored or just plain dull and lifeless. Tube or SS makes no difference they try but fall short. Then one day I came across Playback Design DAC’s. Wow , that sounds more like my real instruments live!  Amazing the difference , even my non musical friends can hear the definition and detail like playing live in room.  Playback Design for the TRUE representative of live and organic music.