I have two new DACs on order, one is a new 2021 model and the other is over 25 years old (and being upgraded by the original manufacturer).....go figure.
Things continue to change moderately to rapidly in the digital arena so the question of life expectancy goes to how necessary it is for you to have the "latest and greatest" technology. At this point, I suspect many of the changes/improvements fall under "different but not overwhelmingly better" - at least with respect to SQ. Below are a few areas where I have seen continued DAC changes/improvements:
Things continue to change moderately to rapidly in the digital arena so the question of life expectancy goes to how necessary it is for you to have the "latest and greatest" technology. At this point, I suspect many of the changes/improvements fall under "different but not overwhelmingly better" - at least with respect to SQ. Below are a few areas where I have seen continued DAC changes/improvements:
- File format - DSD, MQA, high bit rate, etc. The ability of a DAC to interpret and process different file formats is more important to some listeners than to others. My understanding is that something less than 5 percent of recorded music is available in a high resolution format
- Connectivity - USB, AES/EBU, and S/PDIF are most popular but I2S is being used by some while direct Ethernet may become the next thing
- All-in-One Units - On-board volume controls are improving and DACs offering on-board streaming are becoming more popular
- Analog Processing - Tubes are still popular with some manufacturers and others are improving SQ by paying more attention to higher quality power supplies and regulation, with some even using more advanced SMPS