How old is too old for a Dac?

I prolly should have been more specific about use. I’ll be streaming Tidal/Deezer exclusively (and playing some local flacs).

Although I didn’t mention anything about price, this was done purposely... in order to get a broad answer on dacs progress in general. However, I suppose it’s possible that more expensive dacs could have improved more than lesser expensive stuff, and visa versa.

Totally in the dark as I haven’t tried anything new in a few years. Back in 1995, I remember trying a $4k Wadia dac, and other than a few spacial changes, heard virtually no difference at all compared to a $600 Denon CD player. Yet my system was transparent enough to hear changes in cables and electronics very easily.

spoogemonkey

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?

If just listening to CD's (pcm 16/44 or 24/96) or DXD then go for a good Multibit dac/cdp.
  
If you plan on listening to dsd, sacd then you have to go for the newer bitstream delta sigma based dac or cdp's, but the pcm stuff above will take a hit.

Cheers George 

I agree with Erik that there are many modern DAC designs that do Redbook very well. These DAC’s are not simply using a Delta-Sigma dac chip, many have added a FPGA (field-programmable gate array), which is programmable by the designer to process the 16/44.1 standard and hirez. Examples; Chord, PS Audio.

There are now quite a few multi-bit ladder DAC’s that can read Redbook in it’s native form. Example; Schiit, Cyrus.

Also, I think today’s designs have better analogue stages than older DACs. This may be the reason for the most dramatic difference in performance between DACs. This allows a more natural presentation, even in the budget models.

^ @lowrider

When you say "today's designs", how far back does that encompass? 

" Also, I think today’s designs have better analogue stages than older DACs. This may be the reason for the most dramatic difference in performance between DACs. This allows a more natural presentation, even the budget models."

@lowrider57 just curious what makes you say this? I don’t think analog output stages have changed that significantly in the last say 25 years or so if not longer. A well designed output stage is something you can find on many older well designed units including the AN dac i mentioned above/