The DAC Scam - Almost everyone believes the hype

I've seen so many of these discussions.  End of day, if you can't hear a difference, you are in the wrong hobby, and you are wasting your $$.  

Some of us DO hear profound differences, sometimes sublime differences, and as we can afford to burn money on this hobby...we do.  

Discussions like these are like arguing the best flavor of ice cream, or the 'best' color.  

You need to listen and decide for yourself.  And, I've found it best to not think about it too much or read too much into reviews.  You have to listen. And, if you can't hear a difference, you are in the wrong hobby, and you are wasting your $$.  

Jason bourne71  what do you have that so great ?

I can see spending maybe up to $10-$15 k is you have the funds .

these are many really good dacs under $10k . I prefer just dedicated dacs  much less to go wrong .I have 2 dacs that are very good the Denafrips Terminator-15 has that R2R  smoothness and detailed. and a Very musical Swiss dac the Merason dac1 Mk2 which  I have compared to dacs up to $15k  that maybe better in some areas but not all, natural and musical not processed the Merason does in spades  No DSD,,which  is no big deal less then 1% of music is in hirez  and not always better .

I have a 9k DAC a 3k DAC and a ProTools MTRX DAC they all sound good but different, the biggest improvement is using the I2S connector.

@donavabdear do you have the avid MTRX DA conversion from DAD? That one’s actually terrible especially for the price

@jasonbourne71 i’m sure some part of you has good intentions, but you’re coming across as a tool. and you’re factually wrong

As is this video, which we apparently have all suffered through

Just more Clickbait in the attention economy.

Anyone can call themselves a mastering engineer these days, but if we had a club, this guy would have his card revoked for putting out very bad information

Yes of course the chips are all good since the 90s, and it’s not relevant what matters most is the analog stage, the clock, and the filtering, which in high-end situations is done off the chip, in cheaper situations the chip does the filtering

The thing about cost is that it doesn’t always equal quality, but it generally points you in a good direction if you’re dealing with a reputable company

and it costs a lot of money to make incremental changes when you’re already at the high end

as a mastering engineer with credentials I can guarantee you that every converter has a very distinct sound when you have a very revealing chain, a great room, etc., and at a certain point, everyone has to decide what is sufficient for them, which is very similar to the audiophile world where people are basically building a musical instrument of playback

everyone knows converter chips are cheap and have been good for a long time, everyone except the gullible people he’s trying to suck into his YouTube page, if he was actually busy being a mastering engineer, he wouldn’t have time for that page and he wouldn’t say what he’s saying

i've owned a few DACS. worked my way up to the PS Audio DirectStream. 
happy as a pig in slop. my search is over.