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

I was thinking of buying a new DAC, the choices are many, but some of the lowest price DAC’s are to be had from yesteryear. For example, i took home an Esoteric D05 yesterday and while I have not been able to hook it up to my Esoteric player, due to no suitable connector cable, I was wondering if any of the better DAC’s from years back are really worth having? The example I have in for audition, while close to SOTA back about 13+ years ago, has no USB connection! To that, it has had years of usage, and appears pristine although I am unsure as to what can fail in a DAC? Obviously no warranty, yet a price point that is somewhat attractive, particularly for the build quality.

 

The biggest issue seems to be no USB connection to the upstream gear, but also perhaps the difference in price between a DAC like this, and a more modern DAC with better DAC chips/USB etc.,would simply make this one not a great deal. Thoughts?

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daveyf OP
2,835 posts
 

One of the things that seems to be a factor with older DAC's, besides their older chip design ( which may or may not be a detriment), is the inability of the older units to support the current connection protocols. For example, the DAC i am demoing has no USB connections. As a result, to connect it to most current streamers is not possible. This severely limits the usability of the unit. Apple are good at consistently changing their connectors in order to supersede and antiquate their older product line. This seems to be a factor here in digital audio as well.

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cleeds
5,699 posts
 
tvrgeek

... first generation CD players were not that bad.  Yes differences, but come on now ...

I thought they all sounded different and were all awful.

I remember how excited I was the first CD players debuted and how disappointed my first listening experiences were. The Sony CDP-101 was just dreadful and the Phillips competitor (which was 14 bit!) was even worse. The best at the time as I recall was a Kyocera player, but that's damning with faint praise.

Thankfully, digital playback has advanced enormously.

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daveyf OP
2,835 posts
 

Well folks, I ended up purchasing the Esoteric D-05. It occurred to me that the lack of USB connection, for my circumstance, was really not a big deal. 

Here's the thing, comparing it to a friends almost new Benchmark, the Esoteric essentially ran away in the SQ department and was an eye opener! Possibly due to the synergy with my Esoteric SACD player, but nonetheless, a significant bump up in SQ. Plus, the Esoteric DV60 was no slouch to begin with! 

So, to conclude, it is not always the best way to go with the newer DAC, clearly depending on price paid. 

 

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