How much does a DAC do the more expensive it is?

@oddiofyl 

My current DAC is completely void of features , the only thing it does better than the adi2 is sound better.   That RME is good but the  excellent sounding LAB 12 DAC is much more engaging to listen to. 

Understood.  However, for some, it seems that sound quality and listening engagement/enjoyment are secondary concerns.

Charles 

@jjss49 

Well, you certainly have the appropriate friends for such a gathering.😊😊

Charles 

@kairosman 

Good observations. I would bet a paycheck that your Topping DAC measures better than your LampiZator Baltic 4. I’d also bet that it doesn’t sound nearly as good as the Baltic 4 DAC.

Charles 

@kairosman

As an aside, it’s interesting that "superbly" measuring DACs like my Topping D90SE don’t sound as good as the more expensive DACs in my collection that measure comparatively poorly... whatever design and parts choices that lead to great measurements don’t correlate with great sound necessarily.

This is not a surprising finding. I have read comments from DAC designers/builders who say that even inexpensive off the shelf Op-Amps are capable of surperb measurements on a test bench. But they stated that this result is not correlated with good sound quality.

This explains why some lower cost DACs can have excellent performance numbers yet disappoint when actually listening to recorded music.

Charles

@johnah5 I had an Esoteric N05XD which is a very high end DAC.  It didn't sound natural to me as in if you go hear music it would not sound like the Esoteric which was sooo quiet between notes that it was odd. 

I now have a Reimyo R2R that was substantially less than the Esoteric

I would also prefer the natural sound presentation over the hyper detailed type of presentation. There are definitely different niches of listerners and audio components.

Charles 

@rolox

If your feet are tapping and if your eyes are watering and if you get goosebumps, no need to be frustrated: it’s not so bad after all.

I agree. If you reach this type of response while listening to music you’ve achieved musical engagement/involvement/connection. So regardless of cost, you’ve done something right to get there. How one reaches this outcome and the path taken will vary.

Charles

@ghdprentice 

Well said!!!

@jjss49 

those without the money and/or knowledge will sometimes harbor envy and thus express sentiments of ’awww well it won’t be good money spent anyways’ - getting the most out of life, as usual, is a function of what you put into it...

So true.

Charles 

@thyname 

Thanks for posting the late Charles Hanson comments. Much wisdom on display.

The analog circuitry - 99.9% of all DACs are designed by digital engineers who don't know enough about analog. They just follow the app note. The specs on the op-amps are fabulous and digital engineers are inherently seduced by the beauty of the math story. There are minor differences in the sound quality between various op-amps, but it's kind of like the difference between a Duncan-Heinz cake mix and a Betty Crocker cake mix

Wonderful cake mix analogy to make an astute point with regard to Op-amplifier utilization. Mr. Hanson isn’t alone with this observation.

Charles