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When Will the DAC Singularity Be Reached?

A humorous title, but wondering if those more in the know have an opinion on either: i) examples today where inexpensive DACs (say under $2500) are comparable or superior to expensive (say over $10K) DACs or ii) can we anticipate that within a relatively few number of years that inexpensive DACs will basically achieve the sound quality of today's expensive DACs? Thanks. 

mathiasmingus

Showing 1 response by yage

yage
399 posts
 

@carlsbad2

You’re mistaken - the digital signal is driving the PWM output stage. There’s no DAC because it’s not needed. This is also how the Raspberry Pi onboard audio works. There are details in this article:

https://hackaday.com/2018/07/13/behind-the-pin-how-the-raspberry-pi-gets-its-audio/

To the OP, I think we’re already there. DACs are a mature technology. A well engineered DAC that sells for $100 is going to sound great and possibly better than any other DAC costing more (including thousands of dollars more) in a blind test.

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