Looking for a DAC that has..

What you are looking for would be a highly desirable product but I do not think it exists in your pricerange. The wyred 4 sound dac 2 has what you need but it is has a digital volume control (and is a lot cheaper). You could configure an MSB Platinum DAC the way you specified, but this will set you back about $15K.

You can also add this passive switch into the chain:

http://www.goldpt.com/sw2x.html

Even if 4 parallel dacs processing one channel are 16 bit, they would all be processing the same 16 bits, and on 96/24 material, 8 bits would get lost.

In my estimation you should stay away from a dedicated preamp unless you have an analog source. Volume controls in the DAC have reached a level of quality where the days of the preamp will soon be numbered. We're at an inflextion point, DAC technology is one of the fastest improving in price performace. The machine you are looking for will be there soon within your price range. You will regret having bought an expensive preamp now if you do this. Don't forget additional cabling cost. Here is what I would do:

Get a good, but fully depreciated preamp with HT bypass. Run your Oppo 95 analog into the preamp.
Get a sychnro mesh on 30 day trial. See what sound quality you prefer: Oppo or Apple TV with synchro mesh and electro DAC. Keep the synchro meshif you like it.

Wait it out a little bit - when your ideal DAC has arrived at your pricepoint, sell the preamp (you'll lose a few hundred bucks tops if you buy at the right price). You can then run the synchro mesh and Oppo digitally into your new DAC.

I think you're making some good moves and are heading in the right direction. I was intrigued by the new Metrum DAC (the HEX) myself, but some guy on the whatsbestforum is suggesting they are probably using a 16 bit DAC chip (TI DAC8580) which is obviously an issue if you do high rez (it will chop off 8 bits from 96/24 material). Not officially confirmed (Metrum does not disclose what DAC chip they use), but a red flag nonetheless.

Kz, I'm with Steve on this one. The Esoteric is not magically going to turn your mediocre digital source (Apple TV) into a good one. Going after a "good deal" in digital audio can be deceiving; price performance improves rapidly and if a DAC sells for 50% off is is usually because there are equivalent or better DACs for sale for half the MSRP.