How much does a DAC do the more expensive it is?

@ghdprentice  I have a different option on some of the major brands you mention.  Parts quality are mostly nothing special IMO and in general I'm not too impressed with the use of circuit boards.  Most have good looks and sound better that mid- fi gear but the cost IMO does not justify the extra cost.  Upgrading some products has in my experience brought those products closer to reference levels that have surpased the sound quality oh the major brands top of the line products.  We consistently do this type of work weekly for a lot less. Money than the higher cost brand name products.  Not to say they are bad but they are not manufactured with the best parts to achieve better sound quality.  Happy listening 

@brisketman1 ++ 1

"This is a rich man site where people think buzz words and price tags rule. Most people can’t find a place to hear these brands, much less afford them and are ridiculed for not selling the farm to get a “better” something in their system. Thinking rich people have better ears is like the emperor’s new clothes. Buy steak, not sizzle and you can enjoy the music for the music rather than sit with a frown on your face because you THINK you could do better. "

Hi great responses.  From my non technical view point, I have had Sigma/Delta DAC's and new and old R2R dacs.  

I had an Esoteric N05XD which is a very high end DAC.  It didn't sound natural to me as in if you go hear music it would not sound like the Esoteric which was sooo quiet between notes that it was odd. 

I now have a Reimyo R2R that was substantially less than the Esoteric. So like others have said more money can equal an uber resolving, or some other uber thing that will color the sound.  

Money goes into programing the FPGA chips and also parts that make less noise which helps the sound. 

JH

@johnah5 I had an Esoteric N05XD which is a very high end DAC.  It didn't sound natural to me as in if you go hear music it would not sound like the Esoteric which was sooo quiet between notes that it was odd. 

I now have a Reimyo R2R that was substantially less than the Esoteric

I would also prefer the natural sound presentation over the hyper detailed type of presentation. There are definitely different niches of listerners and audio components.

Charles 

@simao you experience a wow moment after adding the Gungnir then pose the question, what do even more expensive DACs do better/different than cheaper ones like your Gungnir, then later you describe a listening session where an uber expensive CD player wasn't memorably better than your digital front end, which anecdote suggests you are persuaded by those posters here who state that there's no correlation in hifi between higher cost and the feeling the higher cost ALSO represents value-for-money. The Law of Diminishing Returns IS a thing in digital hifi, but the resolution of the rest of your system will determine whether you get a value-for-money feeling if/when you upgrade from the Gungnir to, for example, a Gustard R26 streamer/DAC for $2K. I guarantee you the Gustard is MUCH better sonically than your Gungnir, but whether your system can exploit that sonic improvement is something nobody here can say. You will have to take the plunge and listen for yourself in your system, there is no other way unfortunately 😕