What the Best Dac have you heard or owned. How could you tell it was that good.

After years with the built-in DAC in our tube Jolida JD100 CD player and decades with our Quad amp/pre-amp, we bought an Audio Note Cobra tube integrated and started using its DAC with the same Jolida tube player. Light years in difference in detail! We then splurged and purchased an AudioNote CD 3.1x/II player with its built in DAC. Again, light years ahead of the DAC in the Audio Note integrated amp, and got bonuses of tighter bass, specific sound stage placements of instruments, and amazing sound at low volume. We could A/B every stage with our Quad ESL-57s, and the differences were dramatic. We are now set. I can't imagine any better.

Very subjective. 

The Weiss Dac 501 is excellent. So are all their products. The minute it was on was a wow. (The 501 is also a Roon endpoint.) That's how I knew.. or was the streamer or something else?

The Grimm MU2 (I have not heard yet) looks to be an excellent one box solution. 

For the kind of money needed to acquire upper DAC's and streamers for a fraction of the cost room treatment and vibration control would be more revealing. Then the DAC, streamer or sound would make yah quake.

Nobody looking at T+A?

Playback Designs MPD-8.

It simply plays music at the highest level of enjoyment.

I no longer think about anything but the music. It's the last DAC I plan on owning.