New DACs High End Munich 2023

I simply stated that the HD30 was discontinued, not that it was obsolete or unsupported by Hegel.

There are also quite a few who sit tight with their DAC's for many years, without being lured into Upgrade'itis'.

I'm one of them. The most dramatic improvements I've experienced have been upgrading my amp and transport and playing with speaker placement. So far, I haven't had any reason to suspect that  my DAC is a weak point in the signal chain. My guess is that I'd have to spend quite a bit more to realize a significant difference. But then, I've had the same speakers since 2006. If it ain't broke... 

i would like to share what i am doing currently, as it may help put in perspective the relative impact of a dac change on the sonic performance of a system

listening to my modded magnepan 1.7i’s (xo and wiring mods) w rel subs pair, pass int150 (x150.5 power section with passive pre front end) ... exceptionally high resolution system in a dedicated well damped room

comparing a denafrips pontus 2 12th, venus 2, weiss dac501 4ch, AND a $400 van alstine fet valve topp dac (circa 1998, tda 1541 nos chip, dual 12ax7 tubed output, redbook only, good os tubes in it), 3 fed by parallel optical rendu’s, the older ava dac fed by spdif rca out of an ifi zen stream, which in turn is cleansed by an etherregen moat

running roon, so can set different sample rate settings at each digital leg, each leg maximized for the receiving dac, core mqa decoder activated as appropriate

the venus (3.5 grand) sounds a teeny bit silkier than the pontus (2 grand), teeny bit better bass drive, clearly more forward treble, slightly wider image but no deeper no more layered

weiss (10 grand) has equal tonality as the venus, but a deeper more layered soundstage, a little more subtle detail and treble clarity, midbass a little leaner cleaner, equal excellent deep bass drive and prat

the $400 (used) van alstine has less (and less deep) bass drive, which i can easily adjust for with subs’ setting, slightly less micro detail (due to a slightly higher noise floor) but has equal imaging width as the venus, is as layered as the weiss, but with a touch less specific outlines, and a cool, ethereal nature to voices and guitar and acoustic bass that none of the others can quite match

sooo, to me, the implied lessons learned are

1) get the front end very clean (pre streamer/renderer), i use etherregen out of a good audiophile switch, into optical rendu where possible - it lets all dacs compete on an equal footing, be at their best sonically

2) don’t estimate older dacs, they can sound excellent if they have excellent design and componentry (which need not be super expensive)

3) well done tube stage can bring something very special, not better or worse, but different from what ss output dacs sonically present typically

4) the sonic differences between dacs of vastly different costs , even on an excellent, highly resolving, well tuned system, are quite subtle -- not in the 10, or even 5% range... we are talking 1-2% differences here ... (of course functionality and construction quality are separate, distinguishing issues among dacs of different price tiers)

do dacs matter? sure they do... but among very good dacs in various price tiers, even on an excellent, highly transparent, very well optimized system, the performance differences are small indeed

sorry for a long one, but i thought this should be said here on this thread

@jjss49 DAC's you have compared are containing models, I feel confident the OP has a knowledge of or even a interest in.

With the above in mind the description offered is timely and worthwhile seeing.  

It does seem the latest FW for Denafrips is getting very good press as well.

As for Long Posts, a Calendar is needed to gauge how long many of my Posts can be 😂.

@jjss49 DAC's you have compared are containing models, I feel confident the OP has a knowledge of or even a interest in.

With the above in mind the description offered is timely and worthwhile seeing.  

It does seem the latest FW for Denafrips is getting very good press as well.

As for Long Posts, a Calendar is needed to gauge how long many of my Posts can be 😂.