Are "vintage" DAC's worthwhile, or is this a tech that does not age well


Hello,
whether it’s worth looking into old dac such as
Spectral SDR 2000,
Mark Levinson No.35 (36)
or so Sonic Frontiers Sfd-2 Mk2 DAC.

Digital audio is the fasted moving, now improving category out there
Because to this day they have no usb connection or other options.
But is it necessary?
Or is it better to still focus on a truly time-tested sound?

(sorry for my English)
128x128miglos
Older DACs will still sound as good (or bad) as they were originally, but there have been significant advances in DAC implementations. So I would recommend at least listening to some newer DACs before deciding to go with an older one.





Improvement of technology in amplifier or dac are not synonymous with an automatic improvement in S.Q. in your own room, gear and electrical grid.... And a change on some aspect of sound is NOT an improvement in itself just a change, an improvement is a change on all aspect of sound simultaneously: details but also natural tonal timbre, imaging but also soundstage, listener envelopment but also source width....Any change on only one or 2 aspect is not necessarily an improvement, but only moving the unadressed problems around one upgrade after an another....Most people call a change from warm to more details or the reverse an improvement and it is not an improvement AT ALL just a moving around of unadressed problem....







The real question is with the least money possible how will i make my actual dac sound great? Is it possible? if yes why upgrading at all?

Some vintage dac can probably sound so good in the right "environment" that upgrading them will look like silliness.... It is my case....

But people dont know what is an environment: a mechanical,electrical and acoustical environment.... The words "embeddings" here is replaced by environment for a best understanding....New words are terrifying it seems... 😁😊

a change of a piece of gear is often  only a "change", a moving around of the problem, not an improvement....
@miglos,
1 High quality good sounding vintage DACs can hold their own against many of the current generation DACs. A lot of the very good older DACs were well engineered and have very good power suppliers and analogue output stages. What they'll often  lack is modern connectivity and flexibility.  If your main listening is Redbook/16/44 you can obtain excellent sound quality. 

2 I can appreciate differences in DACs as easily as I can with different cartridges or other audio components. I reject the "all DACs pretty much sound the same" not by a long shot.
Charles 
@charles1dad +1.

My current DAC and the one in my friend’s system (Michael Spallone, who modifies the Synergistic Research MPCs here and the other site), both have NOS DACs with older chips and we’re thrilled.
Michael’s system is the most three dimensional and holographic system I’ve ever heard with unbelievable depth.
Oh, and he doesn’t even have a standalone DAC, he has a CD player.
You did not say how much you were planning to spend. I would not invest in a old dac though 
but a nice R2R dac like a Holo springs May dac,
Denafrips R2R dacs ,even black ice  audio burr brown tube dac ,Topping 9
many options depending on budget to spend ,many prices and different flavors depending on your audio systems sonic signature.
I have found that at least on the few dacs that I have tried that you can put a very good modern USB to SPDIF converter in front of it and get excellent up to date USB performance.  Also,  I purchased a SMSL M500 Dac and was pleasantly surprised at its performance.  It definitely out performs the other in expensive DACs that I've had in my system. and believe me, I wasn't delusional.  The differences were very audible.  I have now owned 11 different inexpensive DACs,  many were similar, but some varied wildly.