Next best exponential DAC quality level?

@martinman I also suspect that Amazon HD in general isn't up to par with Qobuz, but I'd suggest playing music on Amazon via a Qobuz trial that there's clarity on what the provenance of the recording is. Rumors abound of services upsampling redbook masters to higher bitrates and marketing them as hi-rez. If tracks you're testing with are subject to such shenanigans, that would muddy the waters about the dacs. 

You could also try downloading free known superb recordings from the labels 2L or Blue Coast and see if you hear the same results comparing the DACs. Cheers,

Spencer

Diminishing returns applies to all components in the audio chain. Where you stop is up to you. A small difference can be a very significant difference, or not.

Op, do you want a real answer, or a made up one?

Does that sound silly? This whole thread is silly.

DAC chips are so good today, that you can make a DAC for a few hundred dollars that is better than human hearing will ever be. Add another few hundred dollars and you can isolate that from any noise source. Add in a low volume premium and for under $1,000 you can have something perfect.

Now if you want something that is not perfect, that will cost you big bugs, because then you are paying for art, not reproduction.

Are we supposed to take people seriously that compare highly distorting tube outputs to no distortion solid state? Seems silly. Changing a setting on a DAC for the output filter and a multi-thousand $$ DAC will create more difference between it and itself than it will with similar filter setting between it and a much cheaper DAC.

You are asking a group of people for an opinion who have never compared without looking at whats playing, without ensuring the volume is exactly the same, or learning what the filters do and why they may impart a sound, hence DO sound different, and who think NOS is the be-all, when it is just a noise mess, but sure it does sound different.

Good luck on your quest, but these are not the droids you are looking for ... I mean the answer to the question you seek.

A DAC has to translate digital to analogue with leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

No, it leaves no room for accurate interpretation and can be done today with near perfection, at least as far as any human can tell. However, some companies do "interpret". That is art, not reproduction. If it suits your desires, it is worth the money to you.

DAC 1 -- Bluesound Node 2i (owned for more about 2 years)

Known poorly performing DAC with performance < human hearing range, and some noted issues where performance drops.

DAC 2 -- Audio Mirror Tubadour III (non-SE version; owned for 1.5 years)

Tube DAC, of course it is going to sound different.

DAC 3 -- Luxman DA-06 (owned for 1.5 years)

DAC 4 -- T+A DAC 200 (loaner)

Set to play back accurately, with the same filters, you would not be able to tell these apart without knowing what is playing. They both have controls that let you stray from accurate reproduction in which case you could tell them apart. They are no longer "state of the art" in that instance, they are just "art".

seems like we have some same ol same ol losers back with yet another username, post-expulsion for the umpteenth time... oh well... the holidays’ grace period was nice while it lasted -- trolling / argumentation for its own sake is back in full force...

let's watch 'cindy's' post count skyrocket in the next week or two after 'she' joined, er, today...