Good economical used DAC to hunt down

I would take a look at the Cambridge dac magic products. Their stuff is generally good sounding and reliable. No need to buy someone else’s headache. At a few hundred dollars, your choices are somewhat limited IMO. I just did a quick search in the for sale section and there are a number of nice-looking used DACs for under $500.  

what do you mean by a few hundred dollars? See my ad in Audio Asylum for a Audio Alchemy DDP-1

Not sure you necessarily need to resort to an older or used DAC.  A new Topping E30 DAC with separate P50 power supply would be less than $300 and give you great sound.  Best of luck. 

usaudiomart

The Schiit Modius 3 at $199 might be worth considering. Has single-ended (RCA) and balanced (XLR) outputs. AudioScienceReview tests and user reviews have been favorable. No risk 15-day return policy. 

Peachtree Dac-itx (second version)  and original Parasound Zdac

Need a few more details. What is the rest of your system e.g. what will it be feeding? headphones or speakers?  Which brand/model?

Are you listening to MP3's or hi-res? If hi-res, how hi? 96/24? 192/32? DSD? 

Benchmark DAC1. I see them on eBay and Craigslist for a few hundred dollars because they have been superseded by newer Benchmark DAC models. You'll be glad you did.

gonglee3
I want to upgrade from USB DAC to stand alone ones for a few hundred $ - which older DAC should I hunt down on used market?

Go for a good use R2R Theta Audio dac (Mike Moffat designed most of them) and now owns Schiit Audio which has some good new R2R dacs also.

https://www.audiogon.com/listings?q=Theta

https://www.schiit.com/guides/choosing-a-dac

Cheers George

Are saying that you no longer need USB? If so watch for used Bryston BDA-1 ($2000 new, 6-700 used), or PS audio DIgital link III ($1000 new, 2-300 used). Both very well made DACs , USB is weak input on both, not asynchronous. I have owned both.