No such thing as a future proof DAC...

Future proofing DAC's, or virtually any electronic device, would be difficult because of the rapid change in technology and materials.

However, there are manufacturers who future-proof their equipment through excellent upgrade service, such as MUSE, who will still upgrade any of their disc players to either of their two current top models. They will also upgrade any of their other previous amps, preamps, and DAC models to the highest level before production of the item was discontinued. Unfortunately, they do not have a DAC in their current line-up as I suspect Kevin has been spending his time on the HRT line for now.

Dracule1, I did not include in my definition of the better sound characteristics of the newer generation of DACs a description of their timbral qualities because they do vary widely, and imo this seems to be vastly influenced by the ancillary equipment. i.e. cables have much more influence over the tonal sound of a DAC than many realize.

However, that in no way suggests that I consider the older DACs superior in that regard. I have owned and compared directly older Parasound, Denon, Adcom etc. players to the newer DACs/Players and I would not place any of them tonally over the EE Minimax DAC Plus (reviewed), one of the "flavor of the month" DACs. My experience has been that the newer generation of DACs is superior in every respect, ceding no sonic qualities to the previous. Or, to be consistent with my statement about system influence, the newer generation of DACs within systems I find to have more tonal "correctness" and appeal than older ones.

"most newer DACs seem to miss the mark when it comes to naturalness of timbre, pace and rhythm, and smoother sound compared to the older ladder DAC chips and some NOS designs."

Absolutely agree. Its due to the digital filtering. If one could use a modern D/A converter, but eliminate the digital filtering, you would have the best of both worlds: resolution and smoothness. Its possible.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

I agree, there really isn't with the exception of MSB Labs. I bought their Link DAC years ago and upgraded it a couple of times before finally selling it. They are top company to deal with, but their current products are pretty pricey. Great company though.

I think we shouldn't forget about the source feeding these future proof DACs with xxxBit / xxxKhz capable components. We should also not forget the limitations of human hearing when considering the next purchase of said DAC.

Seeing that the record companies and artists are just now starting to re-release their past albums in 24bit/96/192khz format sourced from master tapes of the same quality or less I think the picture starts to become more clear how far you really NEED to go.

We humans are a silly species. Here we are 10-20 years in the future of the release date of most of our favorite albums and we strive to create/attain 32/64bit DACs with triple digit processing capabilities that are far beyond the capabilities of the original equipment used to capture the event in the first place.

In my opinion the main problem with using these increasingly more intelligent brains (ie..DAC's) is that they tend to highlight the shortcomings of the chain of components used to capture these original events. This is of course assuming were are not talking about a modern day recording that was captured with a modern day DAC. At least in that case we could next focus our attention on figuring out how to upgrade a humans hearing capabilities to REALLY enjoy this level of equipment.