Dated but still A rated DACs

The problem with digital gear is that it keeps evolving so quickly.  Today's $5000 wonder is tomorrow's $2200 White Elephant.

I run a Peachtree DAC I bought several years ago for $500.  Still sounds great and I need to make no apologies for it.  More than one visitor has proclaimed my system to be of "reference quality".  You can pick one of these things off of EBay for $200 or so.  

They have both a USB input and an optical input.  I feed it a USB line from my media computer and an optical cable from my CD player.  Sounds identical both ways.

Go ahead and drop thousands on something else and all you'll get is a very, very rapidly depreciating box you'll eventually drop off at Goodwill in 3 or 4 years.

If you mean by dated...vintage....an older Muse 192 was an awesomely good sounding DAC in its day. No USB....but for redbook it was very sweet sounding. Nevertheless, a PS Audio PWD II is more impressive in every way.....and has loads of inputs. Same with the Benchmarks 2 and 3.....used Ayre QB 9 DSDs are essentially affordable now...along with the CODEX and again are much better than vintage DACs.....I remember the Musical Fidelity 192 DAC and liked it but it sounds dated compared to what was available even 3 years ago. Go new....many to choose from.

The NAD M51 is still the best sounding DAC I've heard.  You should be able to find a used one for about $1000, even less.

If you can find one, Meridian 566 was always a great sounding DAC to my ears.  Meridian has always been at the forefront of the digital domain and build quality is excellent too.  Balanced output if that’s useful.

Lite DAC-83, if you can find one used. I remember reading a while back this model being the best for CD playback. I think they also had a transport to pair with this DAC.