Need integrated amp with built-in USB DAC

Much better bang for the buck to go with AV receivers.

"Someone else needs to recommended an integrated amplifiier. I like the Ayre AX-7e integrated amplifier but it is over your budget (please check Audiogon for sale items).
Hgeifman (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)"

Well, since you put it that way, I recommend the Ayre also. Its just a little over budget and doesn't have a dac.

"09-03-15: Coli
Much better bang for the buck to go with AV receivers."

So is the dollar menu at McDonalds.

I'm liking the bel canto c5i I recently acquired. It does it it all very well in a compact and reasonably affordable package that's hard to beat unless one yearns for the warmth of tubes perhaps.

Assuming this a piece you'll want to keep for several years, as opposed to changing it in a couple of years, I would recommend along the lines of what Hgeifman posted above. DACs are not a mature technology and as such they are still evolving pretty fast. In two years you can expect current DACs to be surpassed by much. Amps are mature, on the other hand.

I suggest you look at iFi products for the DAC section. In fact, in their case it would be DAC and volume control. For $500 you get a good unit, and you can pair it with an amp of your liking for a grand.

"09-06-15: Lewinskih01
Assuming this a piece you'll want to keep for several years, as opposed to changing it in a couple of years, I would recommend along the lines of what Hgeifman posted above. DACs are not a mature technology and as such they are still evolving pretty fast. In two years you can expect current DACs to be surpassed by much. Amps are mature, on the other hand."

What are you basing that on? In 2 years, exactly how are today's dacs going to be surpassed? That's like saying a dac you bought 2 years ago is now obsolete. Maybe it is, but how?

Also, I think you can make more of a claim that amps are less mature than dacs. I see far more improvements, and far more problems to overcome with class D amps. Those things are no where near as mature as a current, well made dac.