Hi,
I want to be 100% upfront, we import and distribute Aries Cerat and Rockna Audio into North America.
We have actually A/B tested almost 100 different DAC's. We did the testing on 6 very different systems so not just one person giving their opinion. Our top 3 dacs after years of testing are the Aries Cerat Kassandra, Rockna Signature and Total DAC. All quality manufacturers with great technology and very experienced designers.
At the $5000 price point, the Rockna Wavelight DAC is a great swiss army blade. Reliability and build quality to among the best in the world at this price point. Sound quality at $5000 is the best we have tested. We also like the fact that the Wavelight has a great preamp section and 4 different filters to choose from which allows you to match the DAC perfectly to any home environment. What we don't like is that there is no physical remote control and you can only control this unit with your phone or an IPad.
I would also like to say that there are several other very good sounding $5000 dacs but what we look for when importing product is build quality, reliability, designers knowledge and last but not the least the sound quality. When you start to look at these 4 factors, perhaps this might help you narrow down your decision.
Cheers,
Please remember "it is easy to build a system that can play music but very difficult to build a system that is musical".