What DAC upgrade made you say “DAMN, that sounds SO MUCH better than my last DAC”?


As the title suggests, what was your overall system and DAC at the point where you bought only a new DAC and said “DAMN, that sounds SO MUCH better than my last DAC”?

I’m a novice and so many people talk about improvements from new equipment as if they were only listening to varying degrees of static until they bought more and more new equipment which added up to them finally being presented with music. It’s like Salome and the seven veils. But when does the last veil get peeled away? 

So what system did you have and what DAC did you swap in that made you say “DAMN!!!!”?

I guess I’m looking for night and day differences, not gradual progressions……


pip_helix
Went from using an Audioquest Dragonfly black to a Chord Mojo to a Denefrips Pontus ll. The resolution and detail that the Pontus brings, definitely made me go “WOW”
+1, @jjss49 

Exactly! I’ve asked OP to reveal his system and budget for DAC. No answer yet! I am willing to bet majority of recommendations here are not even pertinent or far off from his consideration :-) 
A short money upgrade can be buying a linear power supply for any of the less expensive 5V DACs that come with an inexpensive wall wart. I got a pretty good one on Amazon for about $85 that made a significant improvement over the stock supply that came with my Schiit Modius. 
@chorus, well I'll mention Audio Note.  I was happily using a Border Patrol DAC in an otherwise AN system, and was happy with the sound.  Switched to an AN 2.1x Sig. and the difference was amazing.  It will only do CD quality sample rates, but the improvement in layering, decay and dynamics are very obvious.  Couldn't be happier!
@Pengun, switch to the Denafrips Pontus or Venus, and use the Pi2AES I2S output for a real upgrade in sound.  It certainly makes a difference going into my PS Audio DSJr as it has the I2S connection.  
The PS Audio Direcstream DAC. I cant even remember what I was using before it. It even gets better every time they have released software upgrades, which , by the way, are free. I highly recommend this DAC.