Simple question, best sounding inexpensive DAC.

emotiva, I'm using it with active monitors 20X it's price.

Onkyo 7030 cdp. Reliability and performance of a single player, with current DAC technology.

I have a Music Hall 25.3 DAC/headphone amp. It has a tube and can also be run in balanced mode.  I was using it in a system that costs well over 40k and it didn't embarrass itself.  I have upgraded, but it's so musical and revealing that it kept sounding better and better with each upgrade I made in my system. I liked it better than any of the 1k DAC's I listened to a couple of years ago.  It also has inputs for nearly anything you have.  I ran it in balanced mode with an Ayre integrated and loved it. Selling it now as I have upgraded to an Empirical OSDE/SE which is in a totally different league, but the MH never sounded badly that's for sure.

Ive got the Bifrost Uber. Very musical. I use the optical in from a quality CD spinner. I also use an optical switch and with that I can also toggle over to a Pure I20 dock and use my Iphone to play Tidal or Spotify through the Bifrost. Sounds very close to redbook CD.