How old is too old for a Dac?

Well let me see I just put an Audio Note Dac 3 Signature in my system and it sounds fantastic! It was built in 1995 making it 22 years old. It is certainly as good as, and I am starting to think better than, my Yamamoto YDA-1 a highly regarded Dac from perhaps 4-6 years ago. So I would say if you're talking redbook then age matters less than design and build quality.

@lowrider57 ah well that makes much more sense and I would agree in fact generally speaking I think budget gear, not just Dacs, do sound better than they used to. Cheers.

" Also, I think today’s designs have better analogue stages than older DACs. This may be the reason for the most dramatic difference in performance between DACs. This allows a more natural presentation, even the budget models."

@lowrider57 just curious what makes you say this? I don’t think analog output stages have changed that significantly in the last say 25 years or so if not longer. A well designed output stage is something you can find on many older well designed units including the AN dac i mentioned above/

Charles,
Glad you chimed in and its pretty funny I wasn't looking for a new dac, love the YDA-1, and still do, I put what I thought was a silly low bid in on an auction here and was totally shocked when I won and had a new dac on the way! So I want to do a shootout, I love the AN dac its been in the system a few days, it sounds a lot like the YDA-1 with a touch more richness and a bit more sustain to notes and perhaps a bit more tone color. I haven't put the YDA-1 back in to compare yet, the AN is so physically deep I had to put it in my rack sideways and re-arrange cables,  so getting the YDA-1 back in will be a chore for this weekend. I hope I can really decide which is better but I've always lusted after AN so we shall see! Thanks for the kind words!

Charles to be honest the AN keeps getting better by the day I haven't been able to take it out yet! I I am pretty convinced the AN is considerably better than the Yamamoto but hearing being fickle I will give the Yammie one more listen before I decide.  Off to NYC for the weekend so that will likely be next week or weekend.  There is just something so right about the AN though I feel very fortunate to have won that auction now!
Cheers,
Jon

@andyz I know what you mean so happy about my AN dac-3 Signature now wondering how much better the Balanced might be? Happy for now, very happy, but good to know there's an upgrade path!