Is there any such thing as a bad sounding DAC these days?

There are some great resources that map subjective sound claims and terminology to specific frequency response characteristics:

It's worth considering that a low noise and distortion DAC with a flat response can always be DSPed to achieve the kind of distortions that are appealing to the listener. Badly measuring DACs are only appealing to a select few.

@mikhailark Reviewers like Amir at ASR also include multitone tests to look at more extensive IMD phenomena:

In terms of music comparison, there is software like Delta Wave Null Comparator that can facilitate doing exactly that. To use with DACs, you have to confront that the ADC will have digitization limitations. For speakers and headphones, you have microphone/space considerations that are better accommodated using systems like Klippel that use repeated measurements to achieve anechoic approximations in regular spaces.

I recommend Audio Science Review as a resource for learning more about measurement techniques.

@mikhailark Well, attacking him (inaccurately, nonetheless) doesn't actually demonstrate the validity of your claims. You will need to actually show that the limited precision of a given FFT measurement results in audible differences. You could also try out the Delta Wave system and see if you can use that as a path down the golden road towards enlightening us all!

You can also check out my presentation of the debunking of Fourier indeterminacy and related claims in fora here and at the Roon community. Personally, I have nothing invested in any of this, but I find it curious how assertive so many folks are about their limited knowledge.  Epistemic humility is the cornerstone of scientific progress.

Please show!

@mikhailark But it would be totally awesome and change everything if you could prove what you are claiming! It would be sooooo cooooool.

@mikhailark Sure, but you are shifting your arguments around concerning the validity of multitone measurements (you assert they are insufficient but do not demonstrate why) and now you are asserting that known limitations of frequency domain methods make those measurements unhelpful or unreliable or something. It's just unsupported and baldly argumentative.

It would be very cool, however, if you demonstrated that you can show something important about audio systems that goes beyond the measurement methodologies widely employed! Sooooooo cooooool! 

@mikhailark Because of all the rich commentary I bring to the discussion thread!

There's null testing via software analysis and the reminder that multitone measurements do rule out some of the ambiguity around the specter of single tone testing. There's my always helpful reminder that it is important to show rather than just telling and how that is a critical part of our modern technological society. There are my insights on philosophical ideas dating back to Socrates (at least).

But mainly so that others can pick up on these diverse opinions and insights and make good decisions about resources and ideas related to our shared love of music and the technology of music reproduction! Sooooo coooool!