The sound quality from DACs - is it all the same?

This topic has cost me a ton of money over the years.

When the upgrade bug sets in I always seem to change out my DAC thinking there will be some magical moment.  This opinion is worsened by the many reviews who proclaim one DAC is so much better than the next.  Steve Huff on youtube is one of my favorites.  Great videos and he's so passionate....   The Wiess DAC is so warm, the Dave is holographic, omg... the May and Terminator... on it goes.

I've owned almost off of them....  most recently the DAVE.  When compared to my Benchmark DAC3, the differences are so amazingly slight I'm left disappointed.  There is a difference, but you almost need instantaneous ABing to tell and even then I'm trying to convince myself it's really there.

Best to get a good DAC and keep it.  Even my Topping DAC is almost identical to the Benchmark.  I've sold all those expensive DACs and put the money toward the amp and transducer.   

Hope this wasn't useless

steve

Dac is a mature technology now...

I bought 4 basic very different low cost dac... Each one serve in my 2 system now at the right place for the right job...Each one is different not only in sound but in possibilities...

I dont need any COSTLY dac upgrade ...

There is a marketing scam here by OMISSION : the rightful electrical, mechanical and especially acoustical embeddings controls are the key to audio once a synergetical choices of relatively good basic components is done...

The rest is hype conditioned by ignorance and marketing strategy on reviewers ....

There is a difference in dac this is evident but so slight compared to the embeddings controls i just described that people buying a dac after another are simply deluded... They confuse a hobby based on acoustics with a compulsive obsessive disorder...

Buy a low cost or a costlier dac after studying users and specs review and call it a job done... Dont go on a buying spree...buy books about acoustics and search articles on acoustics on google scholar...

Nothing else will help so much...

Try to understand the acoustic definition of all music, audio and acoustic terms and concepts and their specific differences in these three fields......

Set a few experiments for yourself in your room or in your system  it is costless and fun ...

This is the hobby. the hobby is  not purchasing as a joyful widow with a full wallet in the lucky event of his husband death ... I suppose you had a family to serve with your money... 😊

And dont conclude that i miss anything in sound quality with my audio systems, there exist a minimaql qualitative threshold that any acoustician can DEFINE ...

Dont look for beyond this threshold by buying upgrades you will fool yourself... Upgrades cannot replace acoustics no more than acoustics can replace the absence of synergy between components..

To understand and recognize this minimal acoustic threshold uyou must learn how to identify aspects of your sound experience with controls over acoustic concepts... There is many ways to degrade or improve these  acoustic controls...

Buying a dac to control your acoustic experience is preposterous and illusory...

You might find the latest episode of the John Darko podcast interesting. Peter Comeau is a guest, discussing audio myths.

Dac is a mature technology now...

@mahgister , not necessarily.....I don’t wanna mention any specific brand names here.... But, some of the "higher end" DACs, i.e. if a manufacturer gets into the FPGA enigma, for example, he can do many things depending on his level of knowledge/competence. Perception of an enormous, immersive ’virtual surround like’ soundstage coming from 2 speakers can be attributed to proprietary algorithms, HRTFs and so on (that’s atleast one case i know of). I assume you are familiar with the BACCH cross talk filters, which is a different strategy than the former.

It is the 3D sound field that eventually gets to your ears and a lot of things can be done in the digital domain to modulate it. If you think of it along those lines, it is not necessarily a mature technology and has much room for improvement.

Wait for big boys like Sony to put something like their 360 reality audio inside a 2 channel hifi dac. You may get something for a 1000 bucks or 2000 bucks that took your listening experience a few notches higher than a 80k donkey dac.

ASR seems to assert that only specs and measurements matter.  Some specs are worthless, such as speaker specs generally.  

Measurements are a starting point. Magazine reviews are interesting, although consistently positive.  Consumer shows present equipment under difficult and demanding circumstances such as the tiny rooms.  Listening to equipment at AXPONA is revealing.  
 

Listening to the equipment properly set up in your own room  is the only real test.  The specs, the measurements and the self-anointed experts (with the attendant Dunning- Kruger effect) will no longer matter when you judge it yourself, in your own home, without the unnecessary distractions.