DAC's Made in the USA


I am shopping for my very first dac and the sheer number of product available is bewildering.Unlike many members, I have never owned an outboard dac for a 2 channel system, my budget is extremely limited and my technical knowledge of the product is low.
Further I am committed to purchase a dac made in the USA, or at least a friendly democratic country. 
You can see by my equipment list that I have nothing of any great quality or renown and much of this inventory is likely to be sold to partially pay for the dac. 
I am 80 years old, wear hearing aids and I am pretty satisfied with the sounds I presently hear and really wonder if I can enhance the sound quality of my CD collection (Jazz, blues and classical). 
Would appreciate it if I can get some real help, i.e., people who have actually used their recommendation/not read about it.  Also please remember my spending limitation, more is impossible.
Many thanks 

New (not used)
Made in the USA 
Ideally less than $1500 
Headphone jack is not necessary
Two channel analog output 
Optical and digital coaxial input 

Accuphase E-202, 
Adcom GFA 555, 
McCormack TLC-1, 
Pioneer SA-9500II,
McIntosh MA-6100
Sony DVP S9000ES (DVD, CD, SACD),ADS 910,Klipsch Forte II
stebut

Showing 1 response by harrylavo

This is what many may regard as an off-the-way suggestion.  But here it is, anyway:  you might consider selling the Sony universal player and buying a used (only because they no longer exist new) Oppo 105 universal disk player.  This player has excellent high-res DACs built in for the disks, and also has built in inputs for both Tidal and Pandora (streaming).  But the real reason I would recommend it would be that if you added a low-cost internet "tuner" (which the Oppo would take into its own DACs) you could also take advantage of the numbers of internet radio stations playing jazz and blues music .... thus creating some new experiences in your arena of preference.  The "swap cost" and the internet tuner could probably fit your budget.

BTW, I'm also 80yr old, enjoy the same music, and have a similar Oppo setup, except that I don't yet have (or really need) the internet radio because the local NPR station (WFCR, Amherst, MA) is already has some of the best jazz programming in the nation at night between 8:00 and 11:00pm plus a wide array of jazz podcasts.

As I said, off the wall ..... but I hope perhaps of value.