I'm not interested in a lateral move. I have multiple Richard Gray power conditioners in my system. I live in New Orleans we have multiple issues with clean power and water in the city. I'm not looking to spend $3k+ for a new or used DAC. I'm going to look into the ones that have been mentioned. Many I'm not familiar with which is why I asked the question. I'm not trying to correct anything or fix the treble. I just want to be able to hear an audible improvement if i go with a new dac that doesn't cost a few thousand. I like tubes. I like the sound of tubes and I like rolling tubes but maybe at my price point that's not the way to go. That's why I asked. Red herrings like PC, cables and other hardware just opens a bottomless pit. What file formats I listen to and what inputs I need are more legitimate questions. I need the standard inputs. 2 coax and 2 toslink along with a USB would be ideal. I have most HD file formats including DSD. So it has to handle DSD also.
Tubes or not
Currenty I have a Wadia Di22 . I'm thinking of replacing it with a tube dac. I'm tube upstream . I'm afraid a tube DAC will bust the bank for the improvement I would hear. I don't want to replace it because it's not tube. I think I I can get a better non tube DAC for the price of a good tube DAC if you don't have an idea that is less than $1500 don't ask me about my equipment. That's a quick filter on multiple levels. I just want to squeeze as much as I can from the signal as I can for best price.98% of the other time vinyl is playong