How do you assess a DAC?

Thanks for the responses. It’s a real minefield choosing a streamer compared to a turntable! There are so many different configuration (streamer with dac, streamer all-in-one inc. amp, very basic streamers like my current Sonos Port, etc.). 

Thanks @soix @ghdprentice @akg_ca I’m going to look at separates. Budget wise I’m thinking max £4k for a streamer and then upgrade the DAC later in the year. It just seems that in that price range, the streamers all have an amp or dac onboard so I need to find the best quality streamer I can get without having to pay for one with pre-amp/dac that I don’t need.

Thanks again to everyone for their input. After a day of research and reading reviews online I think I’m going to go for an Auralic G1.1 with the 2TB harddrive upgrade and a Roon subscription. I can then sell on the Sonos Port, dispense with the Mac to DAC USB connection for the attached harddrive with my music on, and remove the CD player from the chain and get a USB powered CD ripper for any CDs that I have which I can’t find on Qobuz.

Thanks again to everyone who left helpful advice, I’ve now settled on an Auralic Aries G1.1 with a plan to potentially upgrade my Audiolab M-DAC+ in the future to something like a chord.

@jbuhl thanks for the suggestion. What would be the benefit of a second system?  

Thanks for the response. My set up is the streamer going into my main amp and also playing to 5 other rooms with Sonos speakers in but as you can specify which music plays in each room separately or grouped I don’t think I’d benefit from a 2nd system. I’ve just upgraded to Era 100s and an Era 300 and am selling the Play:1’s so makes sense to sell the Port too.