Will a new Dac improve the sound?

I tried a few DACs recently and found the Denafrips ARES II a major improvement  and a keeper.  I went computer audio from my YBA Design CDP  in 2016 and have auditioned a number of DACs. ARES is around $850 from Singapore.  Lots of reviews on it.

The Ares II is a fantastic DAC but I quickly uograded to the Pontus !!. Superb. Both tacks seem to handle treble naturally and the bass is much tighter and better defined.

@garypick - one more thought - if it were me, I would not introduce tubes into the equation at the DAC itself. Seems more logical to implement tubes at the preamp or amp - in any event, let us know what you decide to do!

I have the best DAC I have owned, the Audio Research Reference 9 CDse. I had the $22K Berkley Alpha Reference 3 DAC in my system and the sound was really really really close… a tiny itsy bit different… the ARC was a touch warmer and the Berkeley a tiny more detailed (took hours of critical listening to be sure). This is an all ARC Reference system that is extremely detailed, and natural sounding to start with. See, my user ID.

On the other hand I had a very good high end Sim Moon DAC and it was thin and cool in comparison (this is a good DAC… we are talking about high performance stuff)… I said in comparison.

A high quality tubed component is a thing of beauty. But it is one component in the signal path. A very good one to have tubed… but so is a Preamp, and amp. To have a really natural and complementary system, all tubed gear is a good way to go. Not the only way. 

I have a Cary 303, which I believe is older and more expensive than the cdp1. I use it as a transport for a bricasti m3. The m3 is a giant reduction in distortion from the 303 dac. Smoother and more detailed, a huge improvement. as a transport the 303 is better than my iMac through the Ethernet input.