I have immense experience in analog (several friends are also remastering engineers). We use the same cartridge (mine is low output-I love this cartridge for my mono and stereo LPs, 31,100 of them).
I went through tube CD players and hated CD sound for decades. The EAR Acute allowed my to get a semblance of analog sound. I tried high priced DACs to no avail for 4 years.
The first DAC that permitted me to share in analog sound quality is the only Toppin g DAC we like, the D70s. We haven't heard the latest ones.
I opted for an SOTA DAC with pre-amp in the Lampizator Poseidon. It is 50X more expensive than the Topping and only 30% to 50% better. Even the Lampizator Baltic compares very favorably to analog. I have 16,100 CDs.
I splurged and purchased the Jay's Audio CDt3 Mk3 to go with the Topping, then the Poseidon. My best friend purchased the lesser cost Shiit Urd transport. Great choices like a great cartridge but the lasers should last 10,000-15,000 hours (my EAR Acute for 15 years of daily use-amazing).
The PS Audio gear-open it up and looked at the components. You'll know why they don't perform well.
P.S. 2 out of 3 of the Topping units I mentioned sounded fantastic and 1 was sonically inferior. For $350 to $500 current going price, it's a small investment.