Has anybody noticed different copies of the same dac varying in their sound a bit? People are noticing differences between various dac designs that are so small when measured it’s amazing. It seems these ultra perceptive ears could also detect differences between several copies of the same dac. I know with camera lenses it can be fairly easy to see and measure differences between different copies of the same lens design. Just wondering. The ultra neutral dac may not be of any specific design, but specific copies of a number of different designs may randomly hit closer to neutral than others. Nothing’s perfect, so each copy of the same dac design must sound a little different to those of us who don’t have tin ears. With microphones, I know a famous studio engineer bought 6 of the exact same model of very expensive mics, with serial numbers sequential, and then ranked them most suitable for various instruments and vocals. Then he tested his students by asking them which one is best for recording tambourine.
Neutral Dac?
I’m curious to see people’s opinions on what they believe is the most uncolored dac? Every dac I’ve tried seems to be a flavor that deviates from neutrality in some way (smooths things over, too bright, too soft on transients, lacks bass etc...). Is there a dac that people believe gets all the fundamentals correct with leaving very little sonic footprint? What is the cost threshold needed to achieve it? I’m surprised at my own findings recently but really curious if anyone else has been searching for a fundamentally uncolored dac and what they’ve found.
I realize the most obvious answer is "the dac with impeccable measurements" but I have also found some of them to sound unnatural (dry/bright).