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What DAC upgrade made you say “DAMN, that sounds SO MUCH better than my last DAC”?

As the title suggests, what was your overall system and DAC at the point where you bought only a new DAC and said “DAMN, that sounds SO MUCH better than my last DAC”?

I’m a novice and so many people talk about improvements from new equipment as if they were only listening to varying degrees of static until they bought more and more new equipment which added up to them finally being presented with music. It’s like Salome and the seven veils. But when does the last veil get peeled away? 

So what system did you have and what DAC did you swap in that made you say “DAMN!!!!”?

I guess I’m looking for night and day differences, not gradual progressions……


pip_helix

Showing 7 responses by jjss49

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jjss49
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when i found the 'on' switch on my denafrips terminator... i said "damn that sounds sooooo much better than my last dac", a chord dac that i blew 4 grand on

i could never find the damn on switch on that chord hugo tt2 - as a result, i always felt that one lacked air and impact and truth of timbre...  the brits make such crap these days  😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫
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jjss49
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seems to me the flaw in the op’s question is as much about how bad the prior dac was, compared to the new one

you go from the dull lifeless onboard dac in a bluesound node or a yamaha streaming dac to a decent (but hardly outstanding) high end dac like a denafrips ares or a topping d90, you may go ’wow’ ... maybe

but if we are dealing with 2 legit competent high end hifi dacs, there will be no ’wow’ - differences will be nuanced and subtle, if heard on a well conceived, properly assembled, sufficiently high resolution system
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i second the morpheus - it is truly excellent, exceptionally enjoyable
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jjss49
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Apologies if this was already mentioned, but it’s important to consider DAC type. Depending on implementation, there can be "night and day" differences between a tube-based DAC, a delta-sigma style DAC, an R2R NOS DAC, etc.

dac architecture matters, but no more than other implementation items, most specifically power management, form and quality of output stage, dsp (if any), jitter management/reclocking

schiit makes r2r units that can sound too tizzy and shrill, ej at w4s can take an ess sabre application in his dacs and make them uber smooth and warm... the converse of the conventional wisdom...

so dac ’type’, meaning its architecture is NOT a reliable descriptor of the sound of a given dac
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jjss49
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I didn’t realize that any of the Schitt DACs sound tizzy or shrill. But I have never heard one.


maybe tizzy and shrill are too negatively connotated words to describe what i hear in the schiit r2r dacs sound (gumby and yggy)... lets say they have ample treble energy (as do schiit’s amps), more than most r2r dacs, certainly r2r dacs with tube output stages like mhdt and audio mirror - schiit gear, certainly their more expensive stuff, have a certain house sound, which to my ears, is on the bright side of neutral

obviously many people do enjoy the sonic character of their gear
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@dsper

I was using both a Theta ProBasic III and a Soekris 1421. I purchased a used Mojo Audio Mystique V3 on Audiogon and, after six weeks listening to it, decided it is simply superior. Better depth of soundstage, more detail without any harshness, deeper bass, and a better weight to the sound.


just so i am properly following you, you compared a $5500/7500 mojo mystique v3 (rca/xlr) to a $875 soekris 1421 and were wow’ed by the sq delta... declaring confidently that a is better than b...

(i have the soekris in a second system, it is a sweet little r2r nos dac, with pre volume adjust and headphone capability too)

am i missing something here?
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jjss49
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@dsper

ah ok, never mind... my bad... :)
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