More money toward better speakers or a better DAC?


Speakers need quality content to play.  Great recordings sound very good on low end speakers.  Crappy recordings sound bad from great speakers.  Seems focus is well served on improving quality of incoming sound.  The Dac is a huge part of the equation.  
Are we all ‘cheaping’ out by not spending more for a better dac? 
emergingsoul

Showing 8 responses by djones51

It would have been helpful if you mentioned what DAC you were talking about. The Node2i  DAC isn't very good. The Chord TT2 is a good choice. The RME ADI-2 is a good DAC , Benchmark  DAC3 is another. you're right there are a lot of good DACs which would last you longer than 3 years. 
Are we all ‘cheaping’ out by not spending more for a better dac?
This is a common misconception in digital audio. Price and better have nothing to do with each other when it comes to DACs. That ship sailed long ago. 
No, you can buy transparent DACs for under$200. Speakers and room interaction along with source media accounts for 80% of what you hear.
The Ayre Codex is a beautifully designed DAC with precision written all over the circuitry. To bad it measures like a dog and they wasted all that time reinventing the wheel making it less round. Now what about myrtlewood cable risers??
Some $200 Chinese DACs are better than some $2K,5K, etc.. It's  a very misguided notion that price equates quality. Especially in DACs.
Your question it seems to me is if you have money to spend where best to use it, speakers or DAC? This is an easy decision speakers by a mile.