A DAC that can make digital sound analog?

I am an analog fanatic. Most of my source listening is from vinyl and, over the years, I have owned many CDPs and several standalone DACs. Recently, I traded in a high end DAC for a PS Audio Gain Cell DAC to use as both a DAC and a multisource preamp. I have to say it is a major upgrade for digital playback, both from my PS Audio Transport with the I2S interface, and even more importantly, with USB streaming/file playback from my MacBook Pro. Until now, never has digital sounded so warm, natural and analog-sourced in my system. This is a very fine, high value DAC/preamp! I can’t say enough about the quality and value of PS Audio’s products. I am not affiliated with the company, though I wish I were!

I've never been a vinyl guy but I'll throw in another vote for PS Audio. I recently got the DirectStream Junior and it sounds incredible. I stream hi rez from Tidal and FLAC CD rips from my computer and I've never heard anything sound even close to this good in my system. They offer a 30-day in home trial if you want to give any of their products a shot. The funny thing is I find the DAC so good I'm thinking of selling it because the rest of my gear isn't anywhere near the same level and I am worried about getting to much upgrade-itis in order to match the DAC!

I have always been a vinyl guy, and also had CD players and then DAC's that did the digital chores.  IME digital kept staying clearly inferior due to something just not right in the highs - - until I started using R2R DAC's.  I first built an Audio Note Kits 4.1 LE DAC, and it just had musical soul like my string of CD players had not.  Then I got on the Lampizator train, and have not looked back.  I found the Big 7 to be very competitive with my vinyl rig.  I would strongly suggest looking for a deal on a good used Lampi for something that can pair successfully with a vinyl loving system and audio nut.

I bit hard on the vinyl bug for about three years. Had an analog rig that was about 7k all in, and 600+ LPs which were curated in such a way that they are the very best pressings of the music I wanted. Several Mofi One Steps, AP 45 RPMs, original Floyd, Zep, etc... Taking any "vinyl noise" out of the picture, the sound quality - not as a function of stark accuracy, but rather, how into the music I could get. How emotional it felt, how it moved me. It was amazing!

Then I got an Yggdrasil (with updated analog out board) and a very nice CD transport, and some CDs. I get that exact same window into the music, but the media is far less fussy, there's no real setup to deal with, and I can pop in the disc and just hit play, same ritual as vinyl except no sides to flip. 

I will be keeping my vinyl stuff, I just don't use it nearly as much, now. 

I have analog rig but its usage dropped significantly after my Marantz SA-10 was fully broken in late last year.  It's the master tape transfers to DSD (up to 2x, 4x) by 2xHD and others that really impressed me (bought from Native DSD and HDtracks).  Live recordings straight to DSD is also very good by both Blue Coast and Native DSD. 

I built my own digital player using Intel NUC7i5 and use USB to SA-10.  I still play CD and SACD physical medias occasionally. 

The upsampling of Redbook CD to DSD 4x enables more details to be heard.  Despite that, Redbook CD does not sound better than true-analog vinyls.   It's the DSD format that killed my analog rig which costs 4x more than SA-10.

The convenience of selecting albums/artists from smartphone, jumping tracks, the lack or surface noise, no need to change vinyl sides make me just relax while listening.  However, when the sound is too perfect, some of my hard-core vinyl friends don't like it, but that's not a problem for me.

My suggestion is to go into hires if you want the best from digital.