You want a DAC that sounds *different.* What factor helps you find it?

“Implementation of the analog stage
Quality of the DAC’s clock
Quality of the power supply
Must have USB & AES inputs
Ability to play both PCM and DSD
Sturdiness of build and interior organization for isolation”

All good points of consideration.  I can live without DSD but it has to sound great on my system.  That’s all I care about.  How does it sound.  
 

I went from a fully featured DAC that sounds really good to a stripped of features Non OS with tube analog output and it sounds MUCH better in my system…. Maybe not your’s.  It sounded so so when run direct onto my amp. And that’s the whole thing about this hobby , lifestyle, whatever you want to call it.  No two systems are the same. So many variables.    
 

Putting other components ONE at a time in your system is the only tried and true way to get optimum sound and that’s why dealers that work with you, take trades , let you take the item home are invaluable   

Over the past year or so, I have either owned or had extensive in-home auditions of the following DACs:

Audio Mirror Tubadour IV SE

Audio Note 3.1x/II Balanced

Bricasti M3

Bricasti M1 SE

EMM Labs DV2

Holo Audio May KTE

Mola Mola Tambaqui

Rockna Wavedream Edition Balanced

In several instances, I had two DACs in my system simultaneously, and they were compared level-matched. They were all fed by a Rockna Wavedream NET streamer, with the Bricasti DACs additionally auditioned using their LAN inputs.

All the DACs sounded more similar than not. Yes, there were differences, but my preferences didn’t consistently align with one DAC topology over another.

My conclusion thus far is that specific DAC chip, or R2R vs. Delta Sigma doesn’t matter as much as one might believe. At least to my ears.

What matters is the DAC builder’s circuit design and implementation...and how the DAC sounds to you.

The answer to this question:

You want to get a DAC that sounds much different than what you have. What factor helps you find it?

Reading and interpreting reviews/user comments, and then listening in my system. However, the bottom line from my experience is that I have yet to find a DAC that sounds much different from what I own.

I am a tube person as that is my preference.  I have not heard a SS DAC that compares for dimension, air and separation, etc.  All of the comments above have some truth in the price range those DACs fall into.  R2R is my preference but we have build Sabre 32 BIT Chip DACs that also are fantastic. We also have modified or heard most of them many times.  What makes a reference component is the power supply and the parts used.  Most DACs use many capacitors in the power supply, nice but nothing special (think the $43,000 DaVinci - Light Harmonic).  Excellent sounding DAC but to our ears not reference quality.  The design separates them apart and like mentioned above most sound very similar.  Once you get into the design of the power supply and how the parts are used in the design then you will understand what makes something sound the way it does.  The use of chokes versus resistors and capacitors, V-Capacitors, Audio Note, etc.  Even the Audio Note while using really good parts to our ears is not a reference sounding DAC.

Happy Listening. 

First, I only base my decisions on the sound qualities. Never the technology used. I have had components basses on ESS DAC chips and they have sounded everything from terrible to great. It isn’t the technology, it is the implementation that matters. The designer has to choose the design, technology, components, material… etc. I pay absolutely no attention to the technology.

I never have a stable. I always trade up, and never less than 2x in cost from my last component because if well chosen it will sound much better than the last. Otherwise you trade one set of weaknesses (and strengths) for another. Trading up, all aspects get better.

I read professional reviews and listen to everything I can, including lots of live acoustic music. This approach has led me step by step moving towards better and better systems.

Now, being retired and having the time to really enjoy the system I have built over fifty years is really rewarding! The only larger investment I have made is the house in which it sits… which by luck has the best audio space I have heard (better to be lucky than good).

So would an Ethernet DAC, be a streamer with a built in DAC?