I have just gone through this process and looked at many DACs: Ack, Benchmark, MSB, Bel Canto, Scott Nixon, Audio Note, 47 Labs and more. I finally settled on an Audio Mirror D1 DAC for $499. It's available on Audiogon brand new from Audio Mirror. They build tube amps but this is a solid state non-oversampling unit. One thing you may want to do is some research on oversampling versus non-oversampling. There is a good thread in the forums you can check out, plus read about the Audio NOte and 47 lab philosophies on their websites. So far I like the sound of the unit, very analogue. I think the Benchmark would have been my other choice had I gone the oversampling route.
