Ok , now with more advice thanks to you I upgrade the list
Chord QBD 76 HDSD
Bryston BDA 2
Meitner MA1
Berkeley Alpha
Lampizator ( my wife is from Poland so can be a good buy for take more family points
)
Van Alstine FET
Metrum HEX
DCS Debussy DAC
Analog DAC
BelCanto
Aesthetics pandora signatur
Bricasti M1
Esotherics K03 or K01x ( unfortunately I saw only now that somebody was selling one on AA at a good price )
I erased the chord Hugo because we already have the top of the line of chord with the QBD76. I did't put the Vivaldi DAC for a simply economical reason, however looks fantastic with his master clock.
For phunge I understand your choice, me too I was thinking about the AR CD9 for that reason ( in the middle between DAC8 and referenceDAC ) but the DAC section looks very close for all AR. However I have already the turntable so if I'm listening liquid music I don't want definitely stand up every five minutes, yes I'm lazy .
I don't put the Accuphase 550 because if I will have to buy a DAC with a transport I think I will go on the Esoteric K01/03
One my worry on DAC decision is to buy something very expensive now that in , one or two years became obsolete. That doesn't happen with pre , amplifiers , speakers , cables.... but probably is a wrong worry