I was in the same thought process not long ago. I ended up with an Aurender A15, for half of list price. Streamer/DAC. From what I have read it is pretty much their N200 streamer, which is excellent, but with a DAC.
I figure I could get a separate DAC at some point.Anyway I think the A15 sounds great. Paired with ARC ref5se and ref75se.