dac recommendations for turntable listener?

im pretty happy with how the ps audio sounds now other than the tiny bit of upper midrange sharpness that still remains.

Your very cheap interconnects are doing you no favors with this and should be the next thing you explore.  As you found with adding the Node, everything in streaming matters and matters a lot.  You should also consider adding an upgraded LPS (Teddy Pardo, etc.) to the Node at some point as it provides a nice performance boost for relatively not much $$$.  In any event, glad to hear you’re happier with your streaming performance but there is more to be had there.

@palutena, what you needed from day 1 was a dac or streamer with a parametric eq (PEQ) feature.

Fo example, the Wiim pro plus is a 200 dollar streamer with a 10 band PEQ feature. Use it to bump up the mids, lower the highs, etc all with very wide Qs, adjust to taste, create your vinyl sound. From there, run it to your denafrips.

It will become the best sounding ’vinyl’ you ever heard with no pops, crackles, no running back and forth between turntable and couch like a ceaseless laborer, etc.

Otherwise, the squirrels in your head will keep bouncing too much everytime the recordings change (I used to be a vinyl guy too).

Good luck.

I went through a similar search and stumbled upon the Electrocompanient 1 MKII.

It does not get much press but does offer a nice warm rich sound.

Worth looking into.

Good luck.

Ha!, I was going to suggest the Directstream MK1 closeout sale, and then I see you didn’t like it, and then I see the change with a different room and setup. Truly, this is a subjective experience and synergy matters. Everything’s connected.

I do not think an entry-level DAC and streamer or even a step above that will get you close to vinyl.  I have a Simaudio Moon 780dV2 with an outboard Moon 820s power supply which is driven by the Roon Nucleus+, and the sound it produces is excellent and rivals vinyl, and the convenience is amazing.  One of the newer Moon North integrated systems that includes a DAC and Streamer would be worth looking into or the dCS Linea or Bartok.  You will need a budget of roughly $10,000 - $20,000 new or used to get what you are looking for.