Best DAC under US$300

AMC DAC8. I've seen them for less than $100.

Meridian 263 - it precedes the 563 and the current 566 model. It is a bitstream and mates very well with inexpensive players used as transports, especially in the midrange area where the most help is needed. Make sure you get an excellent digital cable like the illuminati D60 or your wasting you time going with an outboard DAC.

New Cambridge Audio DACs available at Audio Advisor for $169.00 originally $500. Same inner components as CD6 without transport, but as separates is a lot better than CD6. Great reviews from Inner Ear report and Haute Fidelite

Parasound DAC 1000. You can pick it up used for approx. $250. Killer sound and very well built. It has Dual push-pull, Burr-Brown PCM 63K chips with 20 bit res per channel and a CS 8412 clock for low-jitter. Outputs 1 toslink, 1 coax and 1 ST (AT&T). I have recently upgraded but owned this same model DAC since 1994 with great satisfaction. While I am NOT selling mine (sorry), I highly recommend you consider one. I found the sound to be very detailed with great channel seperation and a more focused stage. This is compared to what I had before (an Audio Alchemy DAC-in the-box). Good luck in your quest!

Aragon D2A MKII w/ upgraded IPS (separate power supply)-- can often be found used in your price range (although one was just auctioned off on this site for a much higher price). An older DAC, but "brutally transparent" and unbelievably "real" sound.