Do hi-end DACs offer true value or diminishing return...

You are completely right...

It is the only serious potential problem with headphone...

Alas! i cannot go back to a dedicated room...

I take great care of the DB level... But the temptation to forgot it is always there , especially with the AKG K340...( no distortion at high level )  and the speaker like effect ask for more "sound level"...

I will be very cautious... Thanks to remind us of this fact...

You are more than right...

Please be advised that not everyone can give credence to the headphone listening system due to various reasons such as hearing health and disconfort of headphone wearing. I understand the definite advantage of no box and room effect elimination from headphone use but just do not feel comfortable wearing headphone for a long time that I usually spend with music listening.

The major reason is the impact to the hearing health from headphone wearing (even at the sound pressue level of 60-65 dBA I usually listen with). My reasoning is that wearing headphone / earbuds causes pressure change in the inner / interior ear. It sometimes produces whoosing sound / tinnitus due possibly to muscle contraction. This tinnitus can be intermittent but sometimes becomes a constant effect that will bother for a longer term. I am not sure if that makes sense to you...

You are right...

But my Sansui alpha coupled to the AKG K340 best any speakers i listened to which are in a living room...

Some vintage are always top of the chain...

No system make me envious...

There is a minimal acoustic treshold about dynamic, transients, timbre, and holographic translation with a varying soundstage according to the recording at play; this minimal treshold WHEN PASSED OVER make any upgrade preposterous... One of the reason i think that dac technology is mature , is related to my basic Hidizs dac, which is for the price more than good; if it was defective in any acoustic factors i will hear it immediately with the Sansui Alpha+K340...Then most people with an already good dac must upgrade anything but their dac....😊

Most people upgrade because there is a problem with some acoustic factors in their system...

Someone who think this is not the case must think about this : when your system is finally optimized, the music experience is so rewarding that thinking about upgrade is preposterous..

By the way the K340 surpass all headphones i ever listen to by far.... All vintage headphones are not equal...And i am pretty sure that among all headphones the K340 is among the best even after 45 years... Acoustic experience do not change ...The technology which make it possible can change , but a natural timbre experience is always a natural timbre experience, and so on for all acoustic aspects...

Today $700 can be spent wisely to attain a hi-fi bookshelf stereo system. A good example is like:

- Wharfedale Diamond 225, $280

- Smsl Ao200, $223, (50wpc 8Ω, 90wpc 4Ω, 150wpc 2Ω; 2 German Infineon class
D chips)

- Schiit Modius DAC, $230 including shipping

With corrected room acoustic, this combo will render rich tembre (Schiit house sound), decent soundstage and nimble low ends. Around this price range, the increasing return can be substantial imho.

All dacs sound different like all cable may sound different, all amplifiers too...

But It is related also to their synergy together...

But there is a diminushing return ZONE...Not a point...

This ZONE is determined in his area by the subjective appreciation of your system synergy with the dac and the objective qualities of the dac design in itself...This zone area is a ratio in your OWN audio history ...

The dac technology being mature, it is useless to invest in costly dac instead of investing in a complete new technology IF YOUR DAC IS ALREADY GOOD : try BACCH filters or a new upgrade amplifier or speakers or headphone with the same money ...

But everything that i say dont apply to people with an unlimited budget...My rule dont apply to them... 😊

I spoke about sound quality for the average folk... My basic system is 700 bucks and i cannot fault it on any acoustic count... Is there better system? yes... I dont need them because the ratio S.Q. /price is linked to this diminushing return zone in my own audio journey...My only possible REAL upgrade, not a side upgrade , will be BACCH filters... And my systwem is already so good i can even live with it as it is... Not bad for the price i paid ... And dont think that i may be deaf and not a so refined listener, i tuned my room myself and i can HEAR very well for my age window,,,

Anybody with no budget limit can buy a 500,000 bucks system....Very easy to do...A child can do it if he can sign a check...😁

It does not impress me ... I prefer the game : what is the best at the least price and how do i learned how to create a top system for peanuts ...

I winned at this game...And i know why...

If you never learned basic acoustic you CANNOT know how nor know why...If you did not know how to optimize your system embeddings controls, You can only own a 500,000 bucks system , thats all... Thats dont impress me...

And acoustic experience is not related to price tag at all... Sorry for the dude who own a 500,000 system that sound not so much  better that the price may suggest...

😊

My post is written for normal people with not much money who dream about Hi-FI ...I want to say it is possible at low cost but with studies and some thinking...

Very interesting post! Thanks very much...

Ok i understand you point now...

You are right for sure... The quality of classical recordings depend on microphone expertise by design and by the way they are used...

You are right for the "work routines"...

Simply, every reproduction audio systems sound veiled, bright, and un-natural.

Even many original recordings have veils/brightness depends on quality of microphones and recording machines. The idea of mic is similar to loudspeakers. Few great sounding mics are made by people who had made mics all their life in 1930~60's and found some work routines for good sound. Still they didn't know what makes good sounds. They just knew some work routines.   Alex/Wavetouch

I forgot to say that i distinguish a "veil" caused by studio processing... And old bad techniques of recording...

A"veil" disturb me more than "old " bad recordings ....

I respectably disagree. Please point me any classical music live recording of audio equipment (not dubbed) that doesn’t have a veil. Alex/Wavetouch

Here three exemple:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQR2RJwoZ2Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR33bL5aNTk&t=1225s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFjQ77ol2DI&t=1205s

I respectably disagree. Please point me any classical music live recording of audio equipment (not dubbed) that doesn’t have a veil. Alex/Wavetouch

Perhaps i did not understand what is a "veil"... Anyway i perceived a veil in the two files uyou gave...

We cannot judge dac with popular music , pop, rock etc ...

Because of all mixing and artefacts...

You must choose non amplified classical music...

I dont even use jazz for my test...😊

For sure i listen only classical and jazz....The best for testing is : piano, violin, human voices, cymbal, orchestra, chorus, organ , brass ensemble with cor and tuba... Big drum as turckisch drum and gong...

There is no "veil"  in classical recorded music... We test the "timbre" of the instrument, is it natural or not, realistic or not... We dont test the "veil" rendition... There is none...

I hear some major difference between 3 DACs. 1st, the listener needs to know the sound of the original music.

Steven Wilson - Perfect Life /// Mr. Beasley (unplugged)

These recordings are dubbings. Not live recording and there is no sound from speakers. All 3 DACs have thick veils and those veils will be much thicker with using power amps and speakers. This shows the veil sound started already from the source in hi-end audio.

To my ears,

(best sound) Denafrips Venus II ($4k),

(2nd best) Terminator Plus (10k), and

(3rd) Ares II ($1k).

More expensive DAC is not the better sound because Denafrips company or any audio company don’t know what makes better sound. I hear same veils from $100k dcs DAC combo.

Alex/Wavetouch

Your comparison is not even wrong!

A good dac is to a soundcard in any cheap component as a chariot is to a car...the two moves very  well and will transport you at the same place... BUT...😊

@mahgister +1! A DAC is essentially a sound card.

Read me right :

My low cost dac, HIDIZS Ap 80 pro will not beat more costly one ..It can be not too far if the synergy and if his functionalities are impactful in your system as in mine...

and as i said all is about synergy with a system...

---In my system i need a low noise floor , and this dac had a battery , then i did not connect it to the electrical grid ( only my amp is )..

---I need to go out off the computer noise floor where my files are... Now they are in the big internal micro card inside it...No computer noisy connection...

---I need an equalizer integrated to optimize the mighty AKG K340 ... It is done all that with this dac weighting few ounces..

FOR ME this dac had no fault... In another system it will stronly depend of this other system needs...

Dac technology is mature, it does not means that a single dac can meet the needs and expectations of all customers...

My point is mature dac tech . can give us something very good at low price...I cannot fault my dac on any of these points but it does not means it will the case for you, i hope to have been clear 😊:

(1) high ends are open, ary and articulated without treads of edginess or digital glares; (2) midranges are rich / full without vocal sibilance; (3) bass is weighty and nimble; (4) width / depth / height of soundstage; and (5) separation of sound sources either vocals or instruments.

By the way these 5 points are not enough...We must add two others,

(6) Holographic volume of each sound source must be there and "seen" or felt if you prefer ( i see music😁)

(7) immersiveness : the ratio between the sound source volume and the listener position in relation to them must be an encompassing relation not an excluding relation...In a word the listener envelopment factor must be felt...

But only a DAC by itself alone cannot give all that without the synergy with the other components... And the other components must be at least as good as the dac...

This dac could be upgraded but i compute a necessary investment of 50 time his price to create a real upgrade, not a marginal one... Anyway i dont need this real upgrade because i am happier than i ever was..

Your post is very good and for me right...

But your criteria are met with some low cost dac...

i know because my dac meet them at 200 bucks and so well i dont need to upgrade at all...

People forget that the dac is one thing but his relation with the amplifier and speakers and acoustic or with the headphone , the synergy factor  and the tweaking and optimizing part MATTER the most..

Dac technology is mature now... It is better to invest many thousand dollars in amp, speakers , headphone and optimization than to buy a new dac in many case..  But most people dont know what to do, in the embeddings controls and about optimization; then they think , i must buy another dac to improve my system ... Most of the times it is an error of money placement for a marginal upgrade at best...

if not how can my low cost dac meet all your criteria?

its SQ can be assessed in several dimensions of criteria such as (1) high ends are open, ary and articulated without treads of edginess or digital glares; (2) midranges are rich / full without vocal sibilance; (3) bass is weighty and nimble; (4) width / depth / height of soundstage; and (5) separation of sound sources either vocals or instruments.

I am not an " objectivist", but in spite of some difference in sound between all dacs, the industry being mature now, the diminushing point is here very soon...

My low cost dac can be upgraded but what it gives already  to me : a battery low noise working then no connection to the grid, an equalizer i need, a  big files bank, and  decent good dac operation if i trust my highly sensitve AKG K 340, then  any real upgrade, not a marginal change in sound with a tube dac or whatever, will cost me 50 times  his price at the least  ...I can live with " the out of the head", clear three-D  speaker like soundfield from my headphone  i enjoy now without any upgrade of the basic dac payed 200 bucks  ...

@mahgister +1! A DAC is essentially a sound card. That’s all! Put it in a fancy machined-from-a-solid-billet case and you can charge $50K for the same parts as the $100 KTB DAC. Nobody will be able to tell the difference from, say, the real expensive Audio Note DAC! Because Hi-End DAC’s are a good example of confirmation bias!

Wise observation, especially when someone know anything about acoustic...

I don’t wish to offend anyone, but in the case of DACs, I would have to say that there is certainly a point of diminishing returns. 

I cannot believe how lucky i am with my Dac paid 20 bucks on Ebay...

Dont invest money in costly dac invest in reading about acoustic...