Looking for a balanced upsampling DAC under 1k

There are 2 I've considered: the Mapleshade-modified DACMagic - it's inherently the same output stage as the Cambridge 840C ($1600) player, but with a top-flight power supply and AC cord. It's $800 and can be had with a USB package if you need it for $950. The other one is one I own: a Ric Schultz-modified Behringer DEQ-2496. Ric does a lot better job at modifying than anyone, but the crazy part is that he does it cheaper than anyone else...! The DEQ goes for about $300 or less, new and Ric can mod for about $325 or so (a bit more if you want a new A-to-D input stage so that you can use more than one source) and Ric converts it to truly balanced mode, which is the way I use it. The built-in 10-band p/ch parametric EQ will flat blow your freakin mind...just be sure to confirm BEFORE you order that you're getting a 2.1 version firmware or later - earlier versions (1.1-1.4) were prone to failure (they seem to have fixed this though).

I assume there was some sort of technical glitch with your original thread so here is a “working” link to the extensive discussion of the Yulong D-18. To reiterate, it uses the 32-bit Sabre ES9018 chip, is fully balanced, has a slightly warm sound (unlike the Benchmark) and has been receiving some very positive reviews.

Or, the Cambridge Audio DAC-Magic +?

Or, a PS Audio DL III; only does 44/16bit on usb however. Toslink-in sounds excellent using my Macbook Pro as source and the Toslink will do 96/24 bit files.

Wyred4Sound Dac1 is all you need(unless you need USB)

An upsampling DAC at that price will not be as involving as a NOS DAC. Vary artificial sounding. No immediacy.