A lot of people are missing the point about the Gumby! I own one, and bought it used for a good price.What sold me over the other DACs is it is upgradeable. I can for a price, upgrade it when Schitt upgrades it. Also, I just love the proprietairy USB side. Unison. I found out that I was overfiltering it. I plug it right into the powerstrip with Surge protection. I know what you are thinking, What !!!!! Straight out to a protected power strip? Yes, but I live 300 feet in my neighborhood from the transformer. And all my power is pretty good. And, I have a Schitt Freya + and a Prima Luna Prologue 5. SO, my tube rolling can change the sound dramatically!!So I feel every setup can sound good if you know what you are doing, and know how to tweek,and know the synergy with other components. We all upgrade, and it does help. But Does a 5k DAC sound better? Probably, but I get 97 percent of the way there. And I am happy. For now!
How much does a DAC do the more expensive it is?
Having spun an Oppo 105 for many years on its own before adding a Schiit Gungnir (bought for a generous steal from a wonderful seller here), I was immediately struck with how much more presence and detail the Schiit added to the Oppo's presentation.
That Gungnir, even new, pales in comparison pricewise with 4 and 5 figure DACs I see for sale here.
So what do those much more expensive DACS do for sound? I mean, how much more information can be dug out of the digital files? Is it akin to what a good phono stage can do for a cartridge?