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

I used to want a tube dac. But there is always tube noise. My infigo method 4 has a low noise floor. Great detail soundstage and image placement. It’s expensive but delivers. I went from a Resonessence Mirus pro to a soulutions 540 to the Infigo Method 4. It’s a 35k Dac. Went up against the dcs -Weiss - msb- lampizator etc. It does the trick for me. I’m basically done. So full disclosure. I do work for them. I started after I heard the dac. I was sold on it. So I started working for them. SO BEFORE ANYONE SAYS ANYTHING. I have my own business I do audio as an additional hobby/ business. I’m a hobbyist first. I been blessed. I have worked for other companies and it has allowed me to try a lot of stuff near a lot of dacs and Amps and speakers. I recently had along demo of the Esoteric N01xd I was impressed with it as well. I owned the LUMIN s1 it was good but too warm for my taste.  It didn’t get up in the air enough. I will be going out to hear a DCS stack in July and I’m excited to see how that is going to go.  

An inexpensive Topping E30 is the only separate DAC I’ve ever owned. I hooked it up to a nearly 30 year old Denon CD player, and it simply sounded clearer to me compared to the built in DAC in the Denon. Along with clarity comes a host of other descriptors. I can say that it’s not at the level of my vinyl setup overall, but it’s good and that’s partially recording dependent. Now I’m curious what the next DAC step up might sound like. 😎

@metaldetektor it just is so I answered the question.  I’m going to be going out to hear a DCS stack in July.  I mainly do the cable side of Infigo.  I just wondered how people thought about the dacs they owned. I just heard the esoteric N01XD I thought it sounded great. I’m a hobbyist first. I been doing this 20 years.  I’ve heard a lot of stuff so I’m allowed to give my opinion.  Most of the guys here know I work with Infigo. So it is what it is.  I get to hear a lot of stuff because of the shows and my audiophile friends. Just because I do work don’t mean I can’t comment etc.  I enjoy talking to fellow audiophiles. I’m also going to build a second less expensive system using my Kr audio va 900 as the tube intergrated. I’m looking for a cheaper dac to possibly pair with it and a pair of Vienna acoustics speakers. Try to find something in the 2-5k range that’s really good.