How old is too old for a Dac?

Been out of the loop for a good bit, and wondering how much things have changed in digital. In other words, how old is too old for a dac?

spoogemonkey02-23-2017 11:09pm

erik_squires Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 16,052 posts 02-23-2017 at 11:35pm Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Hi Spooge! Well, depends. Here's my random, incoherent thoughts. First, a lot of older DAC's still sound better than a lot of modern, mass produced stuff. The older Theta Casanova for instance still shines. However.. in the last 5 years or so DAC's have gotten really good in a surprising area older DACs are not: Redbook. Several modern DAC's really do CD quality sound MUCH MUCH better than older DAC's did, making "high resolution" files seem much less necessary than before. Among these I include Schiit, Mytek and Berkeley. Best of luck, E
larryi Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 3,979 posts 02-24-2017 at 12:11am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete If you are talking about just redbook CD playback, there are older DACs that are extremely good. I would take a 15 year old Audio Note DAC 5 over almost anything out there now.
randy-11 Details Discussions Posts This discussion 1,913 posts 02-24-2017 at 12:23am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete how do Schiit, Mytek and Berkeley make SQ from redbook CDs better? is it upsampling?? or some innovative new circuit designs, or??