Great question. Maybe 10 years ago after having a several sub-$1K dacs, I purchased an Ayre QB-9. I had a large collection of vinyl with a SOTA Sapphire vacuum platter, a rare SAEC tone arm and a Dynavector 20X2 (?) when I got the Ayre Dac. Within a week, I sold my analogue rig and never looked back. I upgraded to the Codex which was totally a sideways move and had fiddly mode changes. I then got an Aqua La Voce dac which might have been a modest improvement in SQ, but only slightly.
There are a boatload of stellar dacs available these days, but the QB-9 caused a monument shift in my listening experience and lead me to abandon vinyl and remains in my memory the most significant piece of gear I owned in nearly 50 years of listen. Just my take.