The idea that the DAC sound is the primary determinant of the sound quality in anything but the very cheapest of DACs is absolutely ridiculous. Absolutely wrong.
The DAC Scam - Almost everyone believes the hype
Over many decades I have owned my share of multi-thousand dollar dacs.My current is my Audio Alchemy DDP-1 + PS 5, which I have owned for ~ 4 years. I have made many changes to my system, including cables and it has shined a light on every one, so I tend to agree with the YTV . Your thoughts?
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You have been on ASR review web site again . totally disagree starting from the router ,the wall wart garbage has to go just ads more noise , I bought a LTA LPS power supply ,and a decent $600 Ethernet switch ,decent power cords , and quality Ethernet cables, USB , and I2S cables Everything counts . The Terminator15 dac is very good and resolving and my new Swiss Merason Dac 1-MK2. Is probably one of the most analog sounding dacs out there ,both dacs are far better then Anything under $5k. Having heard literally over 100 dacs over 20 years technology in digital has Greatly advanced. $5k on up is A respectable reference point To start ,this is just from my experiences and IMO. |
I’ve owned multi-thousand dollar DACs but these days I use the $400 Topping E70 Velvet. IME, there is no point in using an expensive DAC unless, perhaps, your system is anchored by >$20K speakers. Speakers are the weak link in the vast majority of systems. More specifically, the drivers in said speakers are the weakest link. Really there is no point in using a >$300 DAC unless your speakers are equipped with something like Scanspeak Revelator or SB Satori drivers. Even then….🤔
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@jasonbourne71 , There’s a bit more nuance to a dac than distortion, sinad, transparency whatever. They can quite significantly change a soundfield, spatial cues, perceivable detail with dsp tricks (fpga, etc). Get a simple Creative soundcard and try the different tweaks on their dsp engine. I have a couple of prepros that will let you create a very different experience everyday if one wanted (through dsp). But, since the vulture priced dacs are typically sold to "purist" guys who are a bit technologically challenged, the dsp tricks.."flavors" are more hidden away.
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@audiotroy @loomisjohnson @soix +1 ….. big time…. Simply put, “what makes a good DAC?”. Too many believe that the magic silver bullet secret to a good DAC lies in just choosing a “high-end” converter chip flavour of the day, Chip design is important, BUT …. with hands-on audio experience and verified by direct unit audition bake-offs …. as we go up the price-point ladder, we also learned 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. ….these are foundations of DAC sonic improvements |
Brought to you by the UK division of ASR. OMG, it’s Amir with a British accent. Love the way he glosses over the power supply and output stage and doesn’t even broach the subject of the clock, galvanic isolation, etc. This is a prime example of someone who has to go by measurements because he’s completely incapable of using his ears so swears the rest of us are just fooling ourselves. This guy is a total joke, and there’s 13 minutes of my life I’ll never get back. |
@audiotroy is unequivocally correct-- there's a lot of stuff besides the (comparatively cheap) chip that affects the dac's sound quality. i have a no-name, $60 chinese dac which uses the exact same chip as some high $$$ wadia and other high end players. the cheapo actually sounds pretty good, but it's not in the same league as the pricey stuff. the real question, as with most things audio, is how much you need to pay to get a discernible improvement-- i personally think that some of smsl's $500 offerings are tough to beat without spending a lot more. |
another bull video
his whole argument is based on the chip cost and thats it a dacs sound quality is based on: decoding chip types and quantity some dacs use multiple processing chips with summed outputs input board and input chips clock board and chips any custom processing and software analog amplification board this can cost hundreds of dollars power supply and case so a high end dac can cost way more then this genius surmises
Dave and Troy Audio intellect NJ
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