Hi Frontier1,
I have been through a number of DACs over the years, ranging from a few hundred dollars to about six thousand in price, ranging from tube, solid state, upsampling and NOS.
I am currently using a Wavelength Cosecant V3, which gives a far more pleasurable listening experience than the solid state DACs I have owned, and I prefer it to the other tube DACs I've owned as well. It is very smooth and musical, although possibly a tad light in the low bass (if your speakers go that low). The only input option on the current line of Wavelength DACs is USB.
If you don't want to spend a lot of money, I recommend trying the MHDT Labs products. They are specifically designed around analog-like sound quality, not test bench performance. I recently sold my MHDT Labs Havana, which sells new for under a thousand dollars, but in my experience competes with all of the more expensive DACs I've owned. However, like most NOS DACs, they are fussy about what is driving them.
Keep in mind that my system is currently all solid state except for the DAC, so this is probably why I prefer a DAC with a tube output.
Good luck finding something you like.
Alan
