2. digital
  3. 167974-152584

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
stuartk
2,932 posts
 
"Moving from a AQUA LA VOCE to a AQUA LA SCALA"

I'll never be able to afford that upgrade.

Good thing I'm totally satisfied with my La Voce!  
Post removed 
gents's avatar
gents
114 posts
 
Before I knew what I absolutely wanted when I was rebuilding my system about 10 years ago, I ordered a Schiit Bifrost and a subsequent multi-bit upgrade. I liked it and got comfortable with it as components changed, but when I really started to fine tune it I thought it would be time to lose the budget DAC. After some reading, the Auralic Vega was where I settled in and it was indeed WTF change with my CJ ET3SE & 2550SE. Palpability just jumped to a different level, as you'd expect and it was a very satisfying change. Now, I have the itch and I think I wanted to jump back into the world of Schiit, from whence I came and step into R2R via the Iggy.
recluse
270 posts
 
Ive heard 2 versions of the AKM based DACs, RME and Topping, and neither sound better than the Oppo 205 ESS Sabre. Implementation may play a roll.

What I like about RME though is the functionality, especially right/left balance! Equalizer and loudness etc.

Are there and other similar DACs that have RL balance?
jjss49's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
jjss49
6,612 posts
 
Apologies if this was already mentioned, but it’s important to consider DAC type. Depending on implementation, there can be "night and day" differences between a tube-based DAC, a delta-sigma style DAC, an R2R NOS DAC, etc.

dac architecture matters, but no more than other implementation items, most specifically power management, form and quality of output stage, dsp (if any), jitter management/reclocking

schiit makes r2r units that can sound too tizzy and shrill, ej at w4s can take an ess sabre application in his dacs and make them uber smooth and warm... the converse of the conventional wisdom...

so dac ’type’, meaning its architecture is NOT a reliable descriptor of the sound of a given dac
More to discover