My dac is somewhere between 12 and 9 years old. I bought it used and absolutely love it. New it was very expensive and now it is not worth much. I have a few more dacs where depreciation has killed my "investment"
Why am I mentioning this.
I believe that technology is improving with leaps and bounds and that dacs will improve continiously.
The only way to protect yourself/ourselves against this is to get a dac that is FGPA or modular in construction so that one can get software or modular updates.
One of the brands offering this is PS Audio. This is way out of your price range - but have a look at the PS Audio Jnr.
As others have said - best value is to buy used. And after that if you wish to get into high res and MQAetc maybe use software rather than hardware to stay off the continous upgrade path.
Good value for money can also be found in Audio GD dacs.
Why am I mentioning this.
I believe that technology is improving with leaps and bounds and that dacs will improve continiously.
The only way to protect yourself/ourselves against this is to get a dac that is FGPA or modular in construction so that one can get software or modular updates.
One of the brands offering this is PS Audio. This is way out of your price range - but have a look at the PS Audio Jnr.
As others have said - best value is to buy used. And after that if you wish to get into high res and MQAetc maybe use software rather than hardware to stay off the continous upgrade path.
Good value for money can also be found in Audio GD dacs.