DAC recommendation

gdhal-view the chart as a starting point, and not so different than this thread, where someone is asking advice. 

The Musical Fidelity V Dac2 can be had for about $200 and it's a fairly easy plug & play unit that will keep you in very good sound while you research more permanent solutions, if such a thing now exists.
I recently heard Vandersteen Treos that sounded out of this world good. When checking the electronics, I was surprised to hear all this gorgeous texture and flawless soundstaging coming through a Rotel RDD-1580. They were $799 new, I'd imagine you can find one in the high $300s. Worth the splurge. Your options are pretty good.

I've done a ton of group critical listening to DACs in the $800-2000 range (Audio Research, Bel Canto, Benchmark, Bryston, Wadia, Krell, Parasound, Mytek, Lavry, Weiss, ...) and can say that I'm not a fan of the Benchmark or Bryston convertors. I tend to go for the pro-audio models like the Mytek Brooklyn (my current large system DAC) or Lavry DA11 (the previous one).
There are also pre-amps with built-in DACs like the Jeff Rowland Capri (recommended).
The Mytek Brooklyn also has a built-in phono stage and can be remote controlled, so I use it as the main pre-amp with active speakers.

Hi guys, thanks for the recommendations.  Seems like DAC tech is still moving pretty rapidly to get a handle on it.

@wharfy That chart is great and very helpful thanks!

@gents Thanks seems like there are a lot of used and affordable Musical Fidelity DACs out there.  Is there a general consensus on their Pros and Cons?

Seems like Musical Fidelity, Schitt Mobi or Bifrost, and the Micromega MyDAC are decent contenders to perform well.

Would these be significantly superior to my Fiio D03, which certainly doesn't sound bad.  Could you describe the differences 

Those of you throwing shade at an 18-year old MSRP $3,000 CD player, could you please describe how things will sound different/better with updated tech?  I'm curious as the CD50 sounds pretty fricking delicious to my ears... 

Seems like DAC tech is still moving pretty rapidly to get a handle on it.

Perhaps. At least Schiit DACs are, by design, upgradeable.