NOS DAC's without any digital filtering?

"09-25-15: Coli
I don't see any questions directed at me in this thread?"

You may have missed them. Here they are.

"08-16-15: Arsh
Thanks Coli. This is getting confusing. Are you suggesting that my old TriVista would still be competitive with today's DACs? I guess the only way for me to know is an A-B comparison in my system. But I had assumed that new ones would easily beat mine. Anyone?..."

"08-16-15: Arsh
Thanks Coli. This is getting confusing. Are you suggesting that my old TriVista would still be competitive with today's DACs? I guess the only way for me to know is an A-B comparison in my system. But I had assumed that new ones would easily beat mine. Anyone?..."

"08-16-15: Coli
Yes, do A?B comparison. There are some really high priced snake oil DAC out there so be careful."

"08-17-15: Arsh
Coli, which ones do you consider "snake oil?" Thanks."

"08-19-15: Coli
Actually, there's plenty of high end DACs that sounds no better than cheap AV Receivers."

"08-20-15: Rhanson739
Coli,
So why didn't you mention those, as well?"

"08-21-15: Zd542
"08-19-15: Coli
Actually, there's plenty of high end DACs that sounds no better than cheap AV Receivers."

I'd like to know as well. Its not often that someone takes a high end dac and compares it to the dac in a mass market receiver, while in the same system. I'm sure everyone here would find the results of your comparisons to be valuable information. "

"08-23-15: Arsh
Thank you, Coli. I have not listened to those units. But it seems there must be other factors that influence sound, like circuit design, power supplies, tubes, parts quality, etc?"

I don't know how you could have missed all those.

You generally won't be able to tell how much modern DAC sucks until you got a really high end accurate system. That means super high damping (making integrating the amp into the speaker mandatory), plus you'll need balanced power (to reduce noise by 10-20db, a miracle btw), you'll also need low jitter input, but that still leaves a huge weak spot the analog XLR cable, so you'll need a very good one there too.

So if your current DAC sounds fine, don't upgrade your gears :)

Sure, and you generally won't be able to tell how much modern homes suck until you move into the Palace at Versailles. That means sleeping in Napoleon's bedroom, sitting in with the Assemblee National for French constitutional reviews, and getting dressed in the Hall of Mirrors. Of course the weak spot may be your wardrobe, so you'll need to drop $400K on some custom-tailored suits at Cifonelli in Paris. So if your current home works just fine, don't start phoning realtors in France.

Or, said a different way, modern DACs don't suck for 99.999999999% of the lifeforms on this planet, not necessarily including llamas and pigmy marmosets.

Actually, some modern DAC's suck and some don't. As engineers say it's all about implementation.

Bombaywalla, your explanations have been super helpful for me. You literally have to spend hours on the internet digging for this kind of quality info.

One last question based on your last response:

Is an upsampled 16/44.1 file just as good as as "hi-res" file of the same sample rate when using a NOS DAC? No advantage at using a "hi-res" track at all???

I can't help but think that, back when NOS dacs were current production, audiophiles were not too happy with CD's sound quality. It just seemed like everyone wanted a new format. By comparison, it seems like audiophiles are much happier with Redbook today than they used to be.

"Is an upsampled 16/44.1 file just as good as as "hi-res" file of the same sample rate when using a NOS DAC? No advantage at using a "hi-res" track at all???"

There's a difference. You can't get more than what you started with. When you start with 16/44 and upsample, its a matter of processing. Thats what changes the sound. Its just like using an eq or tone control. With a hi res file, you start with more information in the file itself. That's why the file sizes are bigger for hi res music.(assuming the same format and compression, if any). Think of hi res as going from 720 to 1080 in video.