DAC's from the past, are any of them really worth much today?

I agree that some very good modern dacs are available for under $1k, but I totally disagree that the modern dacs are necessarily better than the best dacs of the past. The Naim 555 and CDS3, the Vekian, Wadia, Zanden were incredible. As far as “new technology”, many of the hot dacs today are using the oldest dac technology- resistor ladder and old R2R chips. That said, buying older digital products may not be a good idea from a repairability standpoint. I know Naim supports its old products, but good luck with much else. And anything with a transport is very risky as well.

@soix 

+1

the ok’d ines still have a limited useful life with optical input functionality out of the TV panel in my 2.1 TV “B” system.

The Audiophilleo USB-to-SPDIF converter was popular ~ 10 years ago, and it sounded better (sometimes much better) than direct USB inputs of DACs at that time. It can also be used to support USB for older DACs - just stick it into the coax input of any DAC. Denafrips makes newer, higher end digital converters that will convert USB to SPDIF. And I think Matrix makes a more affordable one. 

Sure, digital keeps getting better by miles but somehow never really satisfies analog guys like me. I expect some of the old DACs would hold up pretty well in their sound quality, especially if you pursue a more "analog" sound, but will get absolutely trashed in the measurements game. The top Stax and Sonic Frontiers DACs of yesteryear still might be interesting, and I believe Philips Crown DAC chips are still sought after.

I really liked the sound of old Theta D/A, so I think that is mostly Burr-Brown DACs. However, post 2000 DAC jitter rejection and playback of Redbook (44.1/16) got significantly better.

Older DAC's really like hi rez signals, while the best new DACs perform very similarly.  If you want to try out some old DACs you might want to explore Wireworld's Remedy reclocker. The limitation there is everything gets converted to 96kHz/24 bit, regardless of the incoming signal (can be higher, or lower).  I have found that, for instance, with the ARC DAC 8 this really improved performance.

My main system for music listening is connected on only one point on the wall electrical plug with a recent dac ( Hidizs AP 80 pro) which i use as a bank and which is only battery powered ...It is a very clean dac ...

It contain a fraction of my many thousand music files ...

For my casual music listening all day exploring all my files i must use my active speakers , which i modify, in their acoustic corner , because it is where all my files are in a bank connected to the computer ...

i use an USB connection shielded with my homemade "golden plates" to my french battery dac TDA 1543 a minimalistic more than good dac Starting point systems, which is very organic and match more than well with M-Studio AV40 speakers...

The sound is so good that it beat all headphones for intimacy and details anmd imaging i ever listened to save my actual modified one the AKG K340 which beat them on timbre naturalness and bass (25 hertz/50 hertz)

Now my question is : why claiming that audiophile experience is impossible for a system connected to a computer ?... you may be right for almost all systems but there is exception ...My embeddings controls are so well done that upgrading appear ridiculous or too costly with my 700 bucks system... I compute that a real upgrade will cost me 15,000 for my speakers system ...Less for my headphone system because i cannot change my headphone nor my amplifier , they are optimized old unique design in the world with a SPEAKER-LIKE soundfield and natural timbre ...there exist no other hybrid as the K340 ...The Sansui alpha just beat the tube ZOTL amp i tried to upgrade it with ... synergy matter ...This is the lesson ...

Now my question how do you use 10,000 musical lossless files without a USB connection ?

I did not use cd for a decade and i transfered automatically all i had owned for a decade ...

Price tag dont define the sound quality of most average system here on display ... Synergy and acoustic,electrical and mechanical embeddings do ...

There is a minimal acoustical satisfaction treshold where i am...

There is an optimally higher acoustical satisfaction threshold where you probably are ... Marc Lavigne system is more certainly there ...

But the difference between these two acoustical experiences is more defined by synergy and embeddings controls than by price tag in my experience for most people ...

High end system definition imply an acoustical dedicated room in my book ...This cost much money when done by an acoustician than most audio high end system cost ...😁

Am i deaf?

I consider my system audiophile experience not top high end experience for sure ...Cost : 700 bucks...Sorry if my post is considered insulting for some ...😊

From all the time i had been here , i advocated about synergy and acoustic , electrical, and mechanical embeddings knowledge over price tag or mere separate component design ... most people advocate here for miraculous branded name new component, being it a cable, a new dac, or some speakers or amplifiers , always more costly ......😁

The only miraculous component i would buy someday will be the BACCH filters ...

Psycho-acoustics and acoustics rule the gear experience not the reverse ...

It is fascinating to read audio threads... All is about the gear proposed to the consumers not so much about the way to use it for the optimal results... i know because i learned it the hard way ...Nobody said to me 10 years ago what i just claim in this post as a result of my experience ...I learned it ...

 

 

 

I can’t think of why anyone interested in high end audio would want to have anything to do with USB. It was brought on board because of the PC. No high end system should have a computer in the loop… hence no use for it.