Analyzing DACs

Meant to say dac going directly into Don Sachs sounds lifeless without the preamp.

Anyone have thoughts on a dedicated DAC (eg. no headphone amp) vs. a multi-function unit? I haven't found extensive info on the pros/cons of such units? Also, I wanted to explore the longevity of DACs. It appears that DAC tech is ancient. While it has been around for years, the process itself has not evolved much. In other words, a 10 yr old DAC functions much like a current one. The features around the DAC essentially are the "upgrades" (eg. power supplies). If that's the case, I'm inclined to hang onto my Brooklyn. Not only that, but it also does full MQA--a feature many $3k+ DACs don't offer. A member here posted in this thread that the MSB select is older tech yet it seems to be among the echelon of high end DACs today. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

@tee_dee Look at the tech in Mola Mola tamabqui (though old now, still unique). PS Audio, Playback Designs, and Chord with their FPGA approach, which I think is something that potentially can last for a very long time. This is new DAC technology. My next DAC will be an FPGA.

A 10 year-old DAC may not even have a USB input and if it did it is likely really bad, say unlike the USB on the modern Musetec 005 DAC. 

ASR is pure garbage as far as information about which DAC sounds good; they admit as much themselves.  The entire site is premised on the idea that no DAC sounds different than any other.  Anyone who disputes as much is quickly banned.  

So its rankings are pure garbage (and would correlate less than 1% with any rankings of DACs done by people who actually listen to them).

My advice is buy the best measuring DAC available, the SMSL SU-X for $1K, and then buy a comparatively poor measuring DAC, the Denafrips Ares 12TH-1 for the same money, and do a 2 week A/B test in your system. You will learn a lot about what you like - and the value of measurements.

jasonbourne52

2,863 posts

02-03-2023 at 01:03am 

I'd rather trust ASR's rankings than the subjective blather here.

LOL! You still doing your thing sad man? Ridiculous creature 

It seems like the general issue here is gain structure. Each component operates in a certain range and all components should operate most efficiently within that range. That’s a big part of synergy. How that gain is achieved differentiates quality. 

@Tee_Dee

Actually DAC Tech has advanced considerably faster over the last few years.

compared to the rest of the core components in most systems. Buy something current.