Upgrading to a stand alone DAC

The totally revamped Denafrips Pontus 15 

is no longer a slight upgrade like the 12 th anniversary was ,which I heard it side by side, it is a Substantial upgrade 

and it s around $2k. they are running a summer special .maybe a $100 off

my friend bought one and it is reallly good if you like your music a bit warm as this is a R2R dac it is a solid 5%+ better or more with great full bass and deep image depth .I heard it with 175 hours on it and 300 hours is recommended stretch your budget .in our audio club I hear most everything out there if I want to travel  a Best Buy in the $2k range .

If you can get a factory refurbished PS Audio Direct Stream Dac for $1600. That’s a killer Dac at a killer Price! 

@audioman58 I am active as member of a Audio Group myself and as a result have been better served in the areas of experiencing new to myself Audio Equipment, than I had been in the period was using the commercial world to make such introductions to Audio Equipment.

I am thoroughly satisfied with the experiences had to date.

A very recent experience reintroduced me to the FW update added to the Venus II. The outcome left me with the impression it is very worthy as a recommendation as a SS DAC. It was even a perfect SS Comparison DAC to Valve based CDP's used for Demo's, of which one was the EAR Acute and another a Audio Note CDT.

I would like to be demo'd the Pontus 15 referred to  

I will add to the Schiit Bifrost 2 recommendation.  I have the same NAD CD player as you and was simply stunned at the improvement made by switching to the Bifrost 2, which I later upgraded to the 2/64.  Better tonal quality of the instruments, better soundstage, better bass definition, and better definition overall.  And, it is only slightly more than half your budget.  A used Yggdrasil at closer to your budget most likely would be a further improvement.

I have played about with stand alone DACs since I bought my first Arcam Black Box way back when.  I have found that sound quality is not necessarily directly related to price, so auditioning is important.  I am currently using a Moon DAC in one system, a vintage Classe DAC1 in another, and a Hegel in another and they are all very good.