Are DAC's overpriced?

@nonoise  
 
An increase in bit-depth only lowers the noise floor, that’s it.

If that’s it, then what are the benefits of doing so if not to improve the sound quality of the music?

From what I understand, noise floor is the threshold from which lower signals can not be resolved. Those signals are music that can’t be differentiated from the noise.

Ridding the noise that clouds musical signals, harmonics and spatial clues doesn’t benefit anything like the music you can now hear?

I think the problem is you only "see" things mathematically, without art or it’s contributions that the math can only approximate. Music can be measured linearly but when it’s actually played, it’s a different animal. You really should get to know these animals. They’re beautiful.

I’ve always believed that 16bit recordings are all one needs, when done correctly. Take Tony Manasian’s work that I’ve mentioned in other threads. His work rivals any high rez junk out there, and betters most.

I know we all have to deal with high noise floors in our rooms which limits dynamic range so we really only have so much to play with. But any way one can reduce the noise floor betters the sound, or so everything I’ve read says, except you.

Call me dense, but I’m used to it. 😄

All the best,
Nonoise

 @nonoise

16Bit has its noise floor limit at -96dB (it still can have audio embedded lower than that level). Almost all music is mastered to 0dBFS (clipping) is 105dBC, this your room must have a noise floor lower than 9dBC, even the most optimistic values for orchestral/classical recordings aren’t mastered higher than 120dBC, in which the room noise floor would have to be lower than 24dBC.

My living room is open-concept, so a bit noises than normal, but it’s noise floor is about 46dBC. In terms of speaker wattage, a difference of 22dB (46-24) is the same as a speaker being fed 1W vs 160W, it’s a staggering abount or difference, I don’t know any residential rooms that quiet.

Also keep in mind those mastering values are for only that genre of content (and not even the whole genre, only a portion) and most people don’t listen at reference levels (like for movies I’m usually -8dB or -12dB below reference). It also isn’t taking into account that no meaningful data is that low, especially when music >70dB louder is being played, masking it

So no, you won’t hear any benefit going from 16Bit to 24Bit. 
 
Oh, and also remember I didn’t even talk about noise-shaped dither, which can make a 16Bit signal have a noise floor of like 105dB-120dB. So again, 16Bit is enough, and further showing that things like jitter have been a non-issue for many years, even Apple’s USB-C dongle DAC has a Jitter-Test of better than -110dB. Now, not saying no modern DACs are immmune,  but any competent one (even the $9 Apple dongle) has no audible issues with jitter.

The OP must be so pleased; reading your irrelevant arguments.
And so off topic, considering his original question.

My listening changed once I started using DACs.

Now use a Beresford SEG, with Beresford Dorado power supply.
Very smooth, quiet, (cheap), with a low noise floor.