DAC improvements slowing down?

"Beyond that how are DACs going to be a game changer?"

The same way phono cartridges have been for many years.

Until someday when digital is replaced. That could be a very long way off or never. I have no clue what would replace it. Holography like on Star Trek would be my guess (still digital but not just audio) for the ULTIMATE music simulation. I hope I live to see it. It will pretty much just continue to get better and better. Needs of teh fussiest audiophiles in terms of sound quality will become trivial problems to solve on the grand scale. BEcoming more that way already. Of course the most driven audiofiles will never be satisfied....

so what if your like me? Over sixty with a LARGE RECORD and CD collection who is not interested in yet another non worldwide standard of source and not interested in streaming?
How important is my Dac now just to listen to my regular and MFSL gold cd's?
Please give serious answers! thanks, azjake

Its not these technologies that will deliverthe best DACs, its clever design that reduces jitter, eliminates computer dependency and reduces noise and distortion. These are much more important than 192 versus 96 versus DSD.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

AZjake, If you are happy with the sound of your system, just enjoy your music and all the great new cds that continue to be released. You don't have to keep chasing the state of the art if you don't want to. You'll never catch it anyway.

If you feel that something is lacking in your system, a better Dac can make the cds you already own sound better, as can better speakers, amps etc.

There are so many threads here asking about the best DAC at different price points, but Steve N. always states the correct answer...jitter control is the most important factor in producing the best sound from a DAC.
Design elements such as good isolation from noise and vibration would also be found in a good DAC or CDP.

It's not the DAC chip that plays the most important part in the chain. So in the case of an external DAC, the different components become very important, such as a good transport or dedicated computer and software, and the right cable to carry the signal to the DAC where it will be reclocked.