When Will the DAC Singularity Be Reached?

We can have different specific sound "colors" related to any components..

Dac-amplifiers-speakers-headphone...

We can achieve a good system without basic neutrality... By synergetical matching...

I did it with my last systems /room ... Which system  was not "neutral" more on the "warm" side...

French Nos dac TDA 1543 +Sansui AU 7700=Mission Cyrus speakers 781

 

 

Now i turned by fateful event to headphone...

The AKG K340 modified is very neutral and able to reach deep bass and refined high frequencies being an hybrid..

My Sansui AU alpha 607i do not sound as a tube amplifier like My Sansui AU 7700 but more as a refined S.S. amplifier , lower noise floor very , very clean...

Then i changed my dac french NOS tda1543, a very organic sound for a Hidizs dac , a more clean and less noisy and more refined sound in the "colder" side but not digital at all...

Results are astonishing...

You cannot replace the speakers qualities or the headphone qualities by upgrading the source dac... You must in the opposite match the source choice with the speakers or headphone...

This is why for me the speakers and headphones are the most important component ( i dont count the acoustic room here)

Then at the end i think that dac technology is mature... Because i cannot fault the  basic chinese dac  i own now with my very sensitive AKG k340 ...

There is better dac for sure... But better here is not better in the absolute sense of the word , it is better for some synergetical matching not for some others...

Dont buy costly dac, buy first  better speakers, buy a better room , buy better headphone ... Or at least buy better amplifier...

It is my advice...

I can be wrong... Others had more experience than me with dac... But i am pretty sure to be right...

If not why in the world my actual system could be so great that upgrading seems preposterous to me ?

I am not deaf by the way, nobody half deaf can do that, I tuned my room by ears myself...😊

If i am not deaf , if i am so pleased with my dac which is basic , that means that amplifier and headphone and speakers upgrade and synergy  matter more than dac upgrade...

my post is there not to negate difference in dac sound qualities, but to claim that it matter way more to create synergy between components... A dac dont sound the same in different system...

And the best dac in the world will not be so great with bad headphone or bad speakers or not so good amplification or simply in a not so good synergetical match for it ...

At the end, no component had a sound of their own; they sound as good  the worst part of the system ...

 

 

DACs are dead..  long live digital

http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/The_Audio_Revolution_has_begun.html

If everyone actually enjoys music (which I truly hope), isn't that all that matters?  I love LIVE music, Spotify through my Blowz NC headphones on the plane, Spotify @ work on my crappy laptop and Qobuz on my budget (to most) systems at home. It has always been an important part of my life and many memories are marked with music...or vice-versa.  

The music is the point - not trying to figure out if that $10K DAC is 4 times better than a $2.5K DAC.  :-)

+1 @mbmi 

I kind of view sound “differences” in dacs like flavors in foods. Ingredients can be the same but can taste differently based on how they are prepared. Also, everyone tastes that same food differently. Hearing is the same way. Science does not have a full understanding of why one sound is pleasurable to one person but unbearable to another. Find the dac that suites your ear. Hopefully it will be a cheaper on. Probably not though.