You can't talk about tube DACs without mentioning Lampizator, you could get an Amber 4 for $4K but frankly given the quality of the other components in your systems you really don't want the weak link to be your source, you should really be looking at spending minimum $7-10K.
Is there anything other than a Benchmark DAC?
I own the Benchmark DAC3 and love it. I am looking for another DAC due to the addition of a second system. It will either go with a Boulder/Audio Research/(B&W or Vandersteen) system or a McIntosh/Bryston/(B&W or Vandersteen) system. I am looking to try to get something under 3k (maybe 4k) used. I've been looking for a month or so and have seen Bryston (DAC3 wanna be), Primaluna (too much distortion) and a bunch of really old stuff. I have yet to justify any purchase when a DAC3 is sitting there new around 2k with those untouchable distortion numbers. I would love to try a tube DAC tho another solid state DAC would be fine. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Given my DAC3 bias I would love to hear from those whose bias differs from mine.