any DAC recommend for around $1000-1300?

You'll get so many opinions about this it will be hard to find any consensus. FWIW, I would advise buying a used dac in your stated budget. I don't think there have been any great improvements in digital reproduction in the last couple of years. More than a few of us would argue that well executed dac designs approaching ten years of age are still very musically gratifying. Audiophiles don't have as much interest in dacs as they used to, so consequently very good values are to be had. If you buy used at the right price, you can resell it for little or no loss if your expectations aren't met. Sonic Frontiers, Assemblage, Timbre, Musical Fidelity, Audiomat, and more all made excellent dacs that you can buy in your price range.

Hello ryo,

For one review of the Monarchy , check this article in Positive Feedback.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue25/monarchy_m24.htm

Disclaimer/disclosure: the reviewer used my system for most of the evaluations.

Also, I might note that I too was very impressed with this DAC and will be purchasing one shortly.

Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier

thank you for everyone who read and reply my forum! And now i was told that i should sell my CDP and add up my DAC budget to get a better CDP, should I do that? or stick with getting a DAC? NOW I am more confuse!!!

ryo

I agree with Photon, bad digital has always been more about "bad" analog than "bad" digital. Reference digital gear of ten years ago always has fantastic analog output stages just like reference digital gear today. look at all the "mods" floating around, 90% have to do with optimizing if not completely gutting the analog stages of CD players and dacs that are compromised in this area.
I think you would be wise to look at reference Levinson, Classe, etc... of days past. They can be had in your price range and still outperform current midrange dacs and in many ways compete with the best still today. My favorite bargian of this sort is the Resolution Audio Quantum, tough to find but a giant killer from ten years back. Owning a great dac today makes more sense than ever, just get a Hagusb converter and have PC or transport based refernce sound. Don't believe all the hype.

thanks again for all response

i guess i might go for Classe dac-1 or Levinson No.30, does anyone compared these two DAC's and how does the sounds different?

ryo