What DAC upgrade made you say “DAMN, that sounds SO MUCH better than my last DAC”?

I've had the Holo May Kitsune dac for about seven months and very satisfied. Everything that I input including a streamer, OPPO 203 (even SACD) and tv optical perform great. They haven't skimped on anything and the ability to trim the resistors on the fly is a great idea. 

If i may make two comments to @mattmiller:
1. Actually, while one can spend a lot on a system and get poor results it is quite relevant if a user has a highly resolving system vs. less so. And $10k in a system by high end standards is -- choke -- not a lot. Some of these DACs cost that. and all systems are links in a chain.

2. I too have an old MSB gold nelson that i got from Mark 20 odd years ago. Its a pretty solid DAC even today. Mine has both re-designed and vastly better power supplies (my own) and a USB interface with isolation, independent power, and re-clocking (also my own). This steps it up several notches. yet it is still not the equal of my other, mostly newer DACs. but that is a story that i don’t have time to type at the moment.

But yea, Mark was way ahead for the money back then. His new R2R stuff, OTOH i believe starts at around $20k. Gulp.

and to @joey_v (apparently i got that wrong): I agree the EMM is excellent. I recently heard it in one of the best systems I’ve every heard. One of those systems that just vanished. No drama, not "impressive". I just listened to music. As i recall not cheap.

I have an Esoteric K-01xd with the best FPGA programmable DAC (64 bit) that I have heard...beats both the best DCS and MSB Tech DACs in my system. I think that the context of the other components in the system as well as what you listen to is of paramount importance. Hard to say whether a single component in isolation will do - it depends on source, line quality, cabling, speakers (or headphones) and everything else...

LUMIN T2. I am a relative beginner as well. I started using the stock DAC on the Hegel H390 but wanted something more. That *Damm, that’s good* feeling. Quite a few folks on the Roon forum had mentioned the Lumin T2. I live in a relatively remote area so took a chance and ordered one cold. The T2 takes about 2 weeks to break in but from the moment I first heard it, I was like *DAMM, that is amazing*. Feels like every instrument is being separately unfolded but somehow part of a unified sound.
Just my 2¢. 
Good luck.

“I have an Esoteric K-01xd with the best FPGA programmable DAC (64 bit) that I have heard...beats both the best DCS and MSB Tech DACs in my system.”
@gerryah930,

Can you please elaborate on ‘best DCS and MSB’ since they have different tiers of reference. I would like to know which models you’ve tried that were bested by K-01xd?