How easily can you distinguish between different DACs?

@mapman +1. High prices guarantee nothing except perhaps a very high level of salesmanship.  I wish things were that simple, then we can all just save up for a dcs or MSB and everyone else can just go home. But that's simply not the case. That's the great thing about DACs, you don't need to spend a lot for audible transparency these days. And measurements can tell the story with these mathematical machines and keep high end sharks in check.

It's a great time to be a frugal audiophile, getting nice components on the cheap, which wasn't possible just a few short years ago. My one indulgence is a posh turntable because hey, it looks awesome. I know what good analogue sounds like and if you put aside your prejudices, a cheap DAC can take you there.

Agreed Drew.  The one in my Samsung phone is surprisingly good!

I can hear heads exploding.

Direct wired into the preamp playing Spotify it sounds great. As good or better than any of 5 different lower end dacs up to 600$ that I’ve tried. Including SMSL and Toppings and the onboard dacs of a Technics DVD-A and an Onkyo 7030.

They do sound different though. For instance the Onkyo is warm and a little dull, and I have a cheapo Fosi Audio DAC-05 that’s open and brighter. The Wiim Mini is indeed bad but through the DAC-05 it sounds good.

I am curious about the sound of higher end ones up to maybe $1500. Can’t see spending more than that as I am unconvinced that any digital will sound as good as my vinyl. But Spotify is a wonderful thing for discovery and I tend to listen to new music and then get bored of it all and move on. My old records don’t interest me much anymore. Spotify fills that need.

Yes DACs sound different. I think the resolution of the speakers is important. My Maggie LRS are very transparent and present.

If preamps sound different, why would DACs not sound different? Arguably, there are more factors influencing the sound of a DAC than a preamp.

I don't hear vast differences between modern dacs, except for the ones that won't reliably lock on to my digital source. I'm very sensitive to the music randomly cutting out. 

Speaking of Corolla Ferrari comparisons, I think what has to be kept in mind is that when you take a cheap and expensive dac "out on the track" you find out that the Corolla dac with it's cheap tires and regular gas is keeping up with the fully decked out Ferrari dac with it's premium fuel and tires just fine. So the difference would be that the cornering somehow just feels better in the Ferrari and so is a more enjoyable experience that justifies the cost. On the test bench, these cheap dacs are performing brilliantly.