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Just wondering...

Sorry about the poor choice for the title but I just couldn’t compress my question into only a few words. I’ve been watching A’gon to find a good deal for a decent DAC in the $1K price range to improve my CD listening experience. As I look through the listings, I see DACs priced in tens of thousands - saw a Boulder 2020 with retail price of $32K listed for $15K. Probably an awesome bargain for somebody. To some degree I can understand speakers selling for crazy prices partly justified by their sound as well as their "furniture" value. I’m also sure a $20K pair of speakers will still sound incredible ten years from now. I can even sort of get amplifiers being a little crazy in price but they seem to last forever, at least technology-wise. I’m still loving my 35 year old McIntosh amp but can’t imagine using the same DAC even three or five years from now. What am I missing? Can a $32K DAC sound that different from a $1K DAC?

128x128kalali
dlcockrum's avatar
dlcockrum
2,190 posts
 
mb1audio02,

Exactly, to the (one) word, what I intended to reply.

kalali,

Why would a DAC be any different than amps, preamps, etc.? Do you think that a DAC only has a D-to-A chip inside of it? The quality of power supply, power filtering, power regulation, etc come into play just as much as with analog components and actually even more since there are two power supply circuits to contend with, digital and analog, as well as eliminating jitter and noise from the interface with the transport/music server/etc.

Dave
jond's avatar
jond
5,891 posts
 
kalali BTW if you are still looking for a DAC I suggest you check this listing out:
https://www.audiogon.com/listings/da-converters-msb-technology-platinum-link-dac-d-a-converter-1005-...

I came close to buying it because its such a great deal and I love my current dac. No affiliation with the seller just looks like a steal.

mahler123
3,398 posts
 
Hate to use price as the only differential, but I plunked several thousand for a new DAC (Mytek Manhatten) that even uses the same chips as my old DAC, the Oppo 105.  The comparison isn't close, as the Mytek is the single greatest upgrade my system has ever known.
  It's important that the rest of your system can note a difference if you upgrade.  If you are using computer speakers from Best Buy, you won't be able to tell.

kalali's avatar
kalali OP
1,977 posts
 
The only reason I had considered DACs in a separate group from the rest of the audio components was based on my assumption that the rate of improvement due to changes in technology is much faster in DACs. That said, I guess the point I should have considered is more relevant to willingness to pay rather than whether a more expensive piece is better than a lesser expensive one. Perhaps the right question to ask is will a very (very) expensive DAC today be equivalent to a moderately priced DAC five years from now.
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
I've run a Bryston BCD-1 almost since they were first released, a good number of years ago.  Last year I acquired a Schiit Gungnir (and a Cambridge transport) and alternated them in and out the system.  They now reside in my secondary system.  Taking into account the relative prices then and now, and the amount of time that has elapsed, I can only conclude that DACs are not directly comparable to the pace of progress of computers (a la Moore's law).  I have no doubt that one of the good $3K DACs of today would have bested the Bryston, but that's another story...
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