A moderate priced dac

Maybe a used Benchmark?

There are lots of great recommendations and I appreciate all but there is no answer to the question " Has the technology advanced enough to make a present day moderately priced dac superior or equal to the more expensive MF tri vista?"

I like the PS Audio nuwave dsd. I think they were about $1200US  when new. Now they are an obsolete model I understand. I bought a refurbished unit for $700 and am very impressed with it Performance and build quality wise it's a winner. Very robust and lively sounding. Sure one can spend heaps and get decernably better sound but it's all relative to system and your budget. 

Yes.
+1 for the Chord Qutest, fpga based dac.  Get a used one and u will b happy u did.

Choosing a dac is the most risky and costly and deceiving task in audio, more difficult than to buy an amplifier and some speakers by far....No review can be trusted at all...The price has less indications than for other kind of gear of the level of true quality in sound, the price for a dac is most of the times more and indication of research and engineering cost than of quality sound "per se"... And the customer pay for that research and engineering, it is usual and normal, but the research and engineering are not synonymus with the ratio -sound quality/cost-, the law of diminishing returns eat you all......I am glad I dont have this task before me now... Good luck with all these advice...