DAC that beat Mark levinson 360s ??

is it all transport read at 16/44khz and then up sample to 24/96khz or 24/192khz for cd. so the better DAC ( 24/192khz) will provide better sound

Up sampling does not mean better sound, I don't know where that is a proven fact. Anyway, what digital cable are you using, that would probably make a bigger difference since the cable passes the sound to your dac, garbage in, garbage out.

Happy Listening.

Agree with Bigkidz on upsampling.

BTW, ML360s doesn't do upsampling either although it can decode HDCD and 24/96 data streams. If you really want to upsample redbook you will need to add an upsampler in front.

I use a Chord DAC 64 with my Levinson transport with excellent results. You can find a good used one here for about half of your budget.

Many 24/192 DACS are delta-sigma conversion. You will give up some dynamics for sure.