DAC suggestions for a reasonably modest system

I will second a couple of the recommendations so far. I have a Denafrips Ares(Jazz, acoustic) and a Chord Qutest(Rock, Electronic). Believe it or not I like one over the other depending on the music type. The DAC's feed an Orchard Audio Gan amp to an LTA MZA3 preamp. Going off of your budget I would think the Denafrips Pontus or the Gen 1 Chord Hugo TT would be good choices.

Whatever ever you choose, from my research and what others with more experience than I have stated, a reclocker seems to be a valuable addition whatever DAC you end up with.  Best of luck on your search. 

An out of the box suggestion, look for preowned Audio Mirror Toubadour III or Toubadour IV DACs. They punch way above their price range and give a beautiful analog sound. Vlad is very responsive and is always available for upgrades and repairs. Handmade in the USA.

I have the Toubadour V and it sounds great to my ears.

I see a few for sale on USAM right now.

Jeez, nobody’s talking about HiFi Rose? I had an RS250 inhouse for a few weeks last year, but at the time only had the chance to compare it to my old Oppo 103D’s internal DAC. Very solid improvement in soundstage, imaging, and detail, with a fairly smooth high-end (through Harbeth speakers). And the HFR had a TON of functionality & ease-of-use features, like a fancy touchscreen GUI & robust audio and video streaming capabilities that might help it fit into the OP's budget.  Not just a DAC.

Despite enthusiastic reviews, HFR doesn’t seem to get much respect on this forum and to be honest, I’m personally shopping for something a few steps above what the RS250 had to offer. But in the OP’s price range, Schiit and HFR seem to be the two most obvious choices.

@cundare2 

I was surprised not to see HFR until your post.  But they are streamer DACs, so perhaps that was the reason.  If you were to isolate the DAC portion only, aside from the comparison to the 103D, where would you position it in the spectrum of available DACs?  It does look like the 250RS puts a lot into the GUI and streaming function, so I'm wondering if the DAC gets short shrift like in the BS Node.

Couple Wadia 321s on here for $1.7K.  Good implementation of ESS 916 chip. balanced , multiple inputs. 

negative: out of production and large foot print.