What is the best sounding DAC at $2000-$4000?

Bhobba: I purchased a Metrum Octave a while back and love it. I am running Pure Music in my Mac Mini. I purchased a Mach2Music HiFace 2 USB/spdif converter. While playing music into the HiFace 2, I would here "clicks" and "pops" during playback. I ultimately returned the converter. Did you ever experience this with any converters? Do you have any idea as to what I may have done wrong?

Neko D100 MK2 + Audiophilleo 2 + Pure Power sounds very non digital, musical with excellent tonality.

I tried a bunch of DAC's, some in the insane price range before settling on Audio Research's DAC8 , It was by far the best and most analog like. I purchased mine new but if you can find a used one it would likely be in your price range.

Devilboy - you MUST set the buffer size larger to get rid of pops and clicks with HiFace2. I'nm surprised that they dont mention this in the instructions.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Audioengr: INSTRUCTIONS?!?!? INSTRUCTIONS?!?!? Are you kidding me? Mach2Music is without a doubt the most user UN-friendly company I've ever dealt with. There were no instructions with my converter. Also, emails take months, yes, MONTHS to get responses to. I couldn't find any information about how to properly set up the converter. I've asked this earlier: How do you set the buffer size larger? I am in full support of computer audio and I believe it can surpass cd players if properly set up. However, in order for hard drive based digital to work for the masses, THERE MUST BE MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC REGARDING PROPER SET UP SO GUYS LIKE ME DON'T HAVE TO POST QUESTIONS IN AN AUDIOPHILE "CHAT ROOM" TO GET ANSWERES. I've been saying this forever. This thread is the very first time I've ever heard the word "buffer"...ever...anywhere. Why? This is exactly what I'm talking about. This information should be available to everyone buying a device like this converter.