Will a new Dac improve the sound?

I have the best DAC I have owned, the Audio Research Reference 9 CDse. I had the $22K Berkley Alpha Reference 3 DAC in my system and the sound was really really really close… a tiny itsy bit different… the ARC was a touch warmer and the Berkeley a tiny more detailed (took hours of critical listening to be sure). This is an all ARC Reference system that is extremely detailed, and natural sounding to start with. See, my user ID.

On the other hand I had a very good high end Sim Moon DAC and it was thin and cool in comparison (this is a good DAC… we are talking about high performance stuff)… I said in comparison.

A high quality tubed component is a thing of beauty. But it is one component in the signal path. A very good one to have tubed… but so is a Preamp, and amp. To have a really natural and complementary system, all tubed gear is a good way to go. Not the only way. 

Cary makes good equipment but the progress in DACs since 2005ish has been enormous. It has Burr-Brown DACs.. I worked at Burr Brown for almost 20 years. Yes, an upgraded DAC can improve the sound. I would recommend a Schiit Gungnir ~$1.2K… or if you really are looking to improve your system over time, invest in a Schiit Yggdrasil… at ~$2.1K these both perform at a much higher level. Should really improve the sound.

You can see my systems under my ID. I have pursued high end digital since the release of the CD (yuck)… and all the incremental improvements since. The DAC is a really critical part of the CD player… night and day since 2005.