Battle of the Older DAC

If I have to buy used dac , I will look for Theta , yaggy and Metrum.

I would add RME ADI2 to the list. I had this and the Chord Quest. They are both great  for the price but quite different. Ended up feeding the RME right into my power amp. After much switching, it just sounded better  - fuller bass, plenty of detail (though Chord beats it there) etc etc. I think you have to listen for yourself. 

The RME has a graphic equalizer and volume control, and a good clock if you are using USB. 

I have a very old Mark Levinson before it was Mark Levinson which is called proceed. I’ve read that the dacs Are and can be very good on ML equipment and I can affirm that is true.
How could I possibly know?

I have a proceed AVP and avp 2 both of which have built in Dacs.

The dac On the Levenson is excellent. I also have a modern dac the cyan 2 from holo. They are comparable.

The ML has more space and depth and air, but is a little bit brighter and sharper than the cyan. I like them both they are different. I am hard-pressed to say that one is better than the other.

So this may be the exception. If you grab a component that was once upon a time very high end, you may get a Pleasant surprise.

@ceennison53,

Possibly a PS Audio Direct Stream MkII may be available for substantial discount as preowned, but less than $2000 seems too low for current market to me.  The referenced link you provided is for a MkI, not MkII.

I have moved this into a second system, but I still like my MHDT Labs Orchid. I had an Auralic Vega. The Orchid is more "analog" sounding. A little on the warm side. It doesn’t do DSD and isn’t Roon ready if any of those things matter.

While we are giving shout outs to Herron gear, I have his latest monoblocks, preamp, and phono stage.