First Dac question

[streetwise]

I have a quite large 24/96 and 16/44.1 digital audio collection and some decent vintage solid state and tube gear to play through. I have been looking at the Schiit Modi 2 because I like the aesthetics, reviews have been strong and it looks like it might be upgradeable. Im asking to see If this is the best dac in the price range that has USB input and can be rebuilt slightly to be above normal specs. any engineers have ideas on upgrades or better equipment to start with?

 

[Don Bocadill]

ifi Nano or iDSD

 

[sbaradaran]

Audioquest Dragonfly got a B rating from Stereophile...it costs the same as the Modi 2 Uber.

 

[nerdorama]

I heard a Meridian Explorer 2 DAC last weekend at the house of a friend. It sounded very good and the demonstration of the difference between straight hires and hires with MQA was quite interesting. I think there really is something in this MQA business and for $299 the Explorer 2 seems like a good deal. The same file with MQA encoding seemed more fluid and lifelike with better/cleaner transient sounds.
John