(1) Many erroneously believe that the secret to a good DAC lies in just choosing a “high-end” converter chip. While this is important, we know that the essence of the musicality also resides in the line signal processing stages, the power supplies (transformers, filtering, regulation), the digital signal processing before conversion, the quality of the key components: clocks, transistors, capacitors, etc.
(2) An upgraded quality DAC is intuitively important, but is just one factor in the audio performance improvement matrix .You already highlighted the key item from Hans …” …. that better digital playback that better digital playback systems (emphasis added ) can eliminate noise associated with severe upsampling of low res material
In Hans’ assorted videos , that “system” is all of an upgraded dac, upgraded digital file streamer/ network player, upgraded linear power supplies, audiophile network switches, audiophile grade Ethernet cables, and a direct router-to-streamer/network player streaming with cable connections in lieu of wireless wherever possible,