How good are $2 DACs?

Interesting read. I read an article a few months ago about a blind test on streaming services at different levels of quality. Professional studio engineers were assembled since it was assumed their job was listening to music and determining its quality and they would be the best judges. They were unable to tell the difference in any of the services. The services were Pandora, Tidal and some very high end MQA providers. No discernible differences were heard. When they unblinded the test, well, it was a completely different result.

The point of the article wasn't that 2 dollar dacs are the greatest but it shows how far dac technology has come and when we listen in a blind test it's difficult to tell cheap from expensive. 

Good case in point is the Bluesound Node 2i is difficult to beat.  I added a DAC and went back to listening to just the Bluesound.  Something to be said for MQA.  MQA just has a different level of presence. 

This is why despite all the knocks against CDPs and their "inherent" flaws, I'm sticking with them. You can bring up a list of all that can go wrong with them and yet prove that any of it will happen in any given circumstance. And, it's CD quality you're hearing, which when done right, rivals high rez.

All the best,
Nonoise

nonoise
And, it’s CD quality you’re hearing, which when done right, rivals high rez.

>>>>>And when done righter, beats the pants off hi res. 👖 Why settle?