The DAC Scam - Almost everyone believes the hype

The guy in the video may be deluded....

But many others criticizing him  can be deluded too...

 

 (To be clear i can audibly distinguish any dac i ever owned but evaluating the dac performance ask for more than just plug and play)

 

 What those selling low cost dac as well as costlier higher  dac design and quality miss is that:

----The performance depend heavily on the coupling with the other pieces of gear...

--- The performance evaluation and optimization depend of the system/acoustics

--- The performance evaluation of any dac change a lot if all the gear pieces are well grounded...

 

How many here own a conditioner which need a grounding process ?

Almost all people...

Is your linear power supply grounded ?

Mine is too ...

Is you amplifier grounded ?

Mine is...

Is your pre-amplifier is grounded ?

Mine is...

 

Guess what ?

There is no relation between the sound of a dac in a well grounded system and the same dac in this system not grounded at all...

I know that by experience and experiments...

I never bought costlier ground box either ...

I designed mine...

 

 No sellers of any piece of gear will say when they are selling their "masterpiece" buy a ground box (most are costlier than my system)...

Guess why they dont say that ?

 

 

 

 

I know enough about acoustics and the way we can use it to know that as much as acoustics cannot replace a good design of the pieces of gear, no good gear design can replace acoustics parameters controls..

 Then it makes no sense to claim to a "best system" at any price in any room ...

 

 Once we learn acoustics basics concepts ( i recommend to begin by Dr. Choueiri articles and  Dr. Toole book and especially acoustics specialized research question about some concepts as reflection role in perception etc ) we learn how to optimize any system at any price and it is a long process if as myself you do it yourself at peanuts cost...

I dont brag about my system which  i like (low cost) , it would be ridiculous compared to others system here,i propose study and experiments... Read about resonators for example...

A great sound may cost little but ask for a big work on a long time ...If you listen in a living room it is more difficult so much i could never have done it at such  low cost ...

 

 

What may be true to a certain degree for 20$ cable versus 10,000 dollars cable in an 100,000 bucks system,

cannot be applied for a low cost dac versus a very costlier one in the same 100,000 bucks system because the way we evaluate a piece of gear is related to the other gear parts design synergy...

Also a 100,000 bucks system will sound very different and not at his peak potential at all in a living room and in a dedicated acoustic room ... A truth no audiophile like to face...

Nobody want to study and experiment or had the time to do so, they prefer or can only pay for an "upgrade"... But upgrade may be very very rapidly illusory...

Acoustics is better than an "upgrade" because it is the root of sound experience not a "taste" or a "flavor"...

 

I have a Dragonfly black USB DAC. I paid like $120 for it. My question is: Does a $4,000 DAC sound $3,880 better? Or would I be just as well off buying a used Topping E70 Velvet for $275? Would I even notice an appreciable difference between the Topping and Dragonfly?

A salesman at a high end audio store once told me that the reason $10,000 interconnects exist is because people who buy $100,000 systems feel weird about connecting it all together with $20 cables. I know for a fact that $10,000 cables don’t sound $9,980 better than $20 cables. But rich people have to spend their money on something. Is there such a thing as night and day differences between decent DAC’s, or is it just different flavors and slight variations? Is it milking that last 2% of sound quality for thousands of dollars buying high dollar DAC’s?

 

---No dac sound the same as others dac...

--- No dac sound the same with different gear coupling

--- There is no dac scam,only ignorance about the threefold way to embed rightfully any system in his working dimensions (mechanical,electrical,acoustical) once we have decided to pick a dac. Stuck with it and work on his embedding in your speakers/room/ears. Change it only after all has been done...

--- There is difference in Dac design, quality, and synergy...

pick the right one for synergy &budget then embed it wisely...

you will be happy as i am....

 

Dac sellers profit from customers ignorance about the way to improve their system at low cost...No scam just plain ignorance...

Knowledge must replace upgrades road...

 

 

True...

Like is true that in democracy we are all equals in right...

But as said Orwell "some are more equal than others"...

 

The most important factor all others included together is acoustics (psycho-acoustics too) basics...

 

 

EVERYTHING matters for sound. Next discussion.

Deepest salutations my friend!

@mahgister 👍  
I'd say "You ARE what you hear and how...."

Gets deep quick.  And gone thru this before here.

Do what cha' do.

Fleeting as is

Enjoy, J

This hobby for me was about how i ought to learn to install an audio system studying the three main working dimensions of any system , nevermind the price : mechanical,electrical,acoustical...

 

Most people are gullible to publicity and buy gear as upgrade thats all ...they are only interested by the gear : if they are subjectivist, they are moved by their "taste" about gear, if they are objectivist it is worst, they are only interested by some very limited set of measures...

Myself i learned how to do and what to do with any gear system, now i listen music and speak about music not gear....

I discovered also  in all these experiments the best possible introduction into deep acoustics science, a book as marvellous as philosophically important (sound sources by Akpen J. Essien) ... Thanks to this forum... i discovered the book discussing with engineers in audio who to my surprise ignore psycho-acoustics basis obsessed by electrical design over acoustics... Thanks to them for this book i discover to help me when discussing with them, one is Amir...

 

I participated less here now because it is impossible to have deep discussion most of the times... Even discussion about simple tweaks or discussion about acoustics are too much...

Most discussions are about a product favored or disliked, it is free marketing...It could be interesting if we search for others opinion before buying but it is very limited if we want to study, experiment and learn...

 

 

I am happy with my 2 dacs...

Dac make a difference but non on par with speakers or pre-amplification... And Acoustics controls matter way more ...