Best USB DAC for under $1000

I just went through this drill. I listened to a friend Gungnir as well as everything else that was around for this price. I had to go balanced and USB too as I run Arye electronics. I ended up with the 500 or so Music Hall 25.3. It was as musical as anything else I heard and it's built really well. In Balanced, you bypass it's tube section, but it's just a great sounding and highly revealing DAC for the price. I didn't find anything that blew it away that was under 1500 or so and since things are still changing rapidly in the DAC market, I felt I could sell it for around 400 or so in the next year if something does blow me away used or new (hate buying used digital gear).

I can't help you with the Gungnir, but I can offer some input on DACs under $1000. I had a chance to try out the Peachtree Dac-itX, which has an ESS Sabre chip and does 24/192 USB, and I thought so highly of it that I went all the way and got one of Peachtree's Grand Integrated X-1 units. And prices were higher then - a Dac-itX is now only $299. I'm sure there will be buyers who look at that price and conclude that there's no way it can sound good at that money (the old "you get what you pay for" axiom), but I compared the Peachtree head-to-head, in the same system, on the same speakers, against the $1800 Line Magnetic LM-502CA and I could not tell the difference between the two (in solid state mode on the LM). For $299, your risk is so low, and if you decide to upgrade in a year and you sell the Peachtree you'll be out very little money. I'm a big fan of being able to try new electronics for very little money and minimal loss in transaction costs, and it's hard to do much better than $299 these days for a good dac. Best of luck in your search.

Hegel HD11 used.