I have been reading a few Dac related things, from manufacturers to end users, and would like to know (if possible) why do the likes of 1K and under dacs get so much praise, and the likes of 10K dacs receive the same praise. My way of thinking is that the more expensive a certain Dac is, its going to be way better. Is it just marketing BSor what. What price would I expect an improvement with say a pair of good Amphion (7LS) speakers and a pair of PS M700’s, a good Dac for 1-3K or go all out for a 10K one… or is it just a case of “oh I have a load of spare cash, so why not show off”
My guess would be the associated equipment list some reviewers include in their write up, or perhaps some bias/incentive. Are $1K DACs reviewed in otherwise high end systems/rooms and vv?
My experience is that not all hardware plays nicely with each other and if matched properly, some lesser priced pieces can really sound amazing given the right partner, intercons etc.
That being said, have always been suprised to the upside with anything PSA, and their DSD DACs are superb (and available at good prices). PSA have always made the best bang for the buck DAC, IMO.
I purchased a modded DSD Mk1 last year and couldn’t be happier with its performance especially at the price point (under $1.5k). However it is my first dedicated DAC so I don’t have anything to compare it to. Like you I don’t have the retirement money capacity like a lot of forum members here so have to be very strategic/intentional with where I’m spending my money. There are a lot of great deals to be had on the used market though. Good luck!
I concur! I sold me BHK Pre for $1222, my PST for $1400 and my BHK 300’s for $4700. P20 went for $2 058. Though I’m in SA, and the 2nd hand market is a bit different here, it nevertheless shows that if you wait for the right moment there are real bargains to be had. A few people scored great deals! But I feel I’ve scored as well, despite the loss in value. So yes, right moment and right time … getting lucky is not that difficult
That is common on many things. For example, I buy a lot of wines. Do I think the ratings on wine is fair? No, it is a joke. I bought a $20 bottle with 91 point rating, and a $100 bottle with the same rating. Do I really think the $20 wine tasted as good as the $100 wine? It has not even happened once that the cheap wine tasted better. Never happened and we typically drink five to six bottles per week for more than the past 30 years!
Time to drink some good wine for the last night of vacation.
The imersiv D-1 is the new DAC kid on the block. At $12K USD, it is getting some stellar reviews. I am very happy with my current DAC, but if I ever decide to make a change, I likely would start by demoing the imersiv D-1.
We’ve had a few of those experiences, too. There’s usually no reliable provenance when we get wine, so it’s not always clear whether it encountered excessive and/or prolonged heat during its storage or shipment. I suspect that wine vendors have a tendency to more carefully handle their more expensive wares. Sometimes the wines just get infected, I guess, for reasons I can only hypothesize. I recently opened a $40 93-point Suckling-rated New Zealand Pinot Noir, and my wife could smell it when she walked into the kitchen before it was even poured. One sip was followed by spit and dump. Bleah.
I guess it also reflects the various markets out there and the people driving the social media angle of that. In my world, UK based, with the influencers in the market like the British Audiophile they are driving products from £500-£5000 and rarely touch the really high end as it is out of reach for much of their audience. In the lower end for starter, low fi and systems worth a couple of grand there is so much innovation, competition, focus on different DAC function presentation (R2R, Delta Sigma, FPGA based solutions) that there is a lot to talk about and the pace of change is frantic driving a lot of focus and people upgrading and moving sideways between brands and technology implementations. Though I like John Darkos take on the frenetic pace of less expensive DACs being the thin end of the wedge vs Speakers, Room treatment and amplifiers in terms of elements that deliver value in a system. In the middle section of the market above the Denafrips, Gustard, May KTE DACs you have the likes of the Chord, Mola Mola, PSA before moving into the Rockna, DCS, etc more exotic models. System pairing plays a huge role as already identified as do budget and expectations. And for some folks spending $20k on an amp or speakers can make sense at a stretch but doing the same for a DAC (cause that then means equivalent speakers and amp etc need to be even more expensive just doesn’t compute. Is there a difference - I run a LAiV stack for my desktop system uDAC and uDDC and they are a step up from the iFi unit I had in place previously - but don’t compete with the PSG512 in my main system - but there the price of the DAC is matched by similarly priced components so the overall sound production of the whole system is not comparable to my desktop setup. And maybe its just if the mid tier stuff (still expensive in the $7k to $15k range) is hyped as the only valid entry point, folks new to the hobby will be put off by the price of entry when a really good sounding system for a newby can be had for not a lot of money as New Record Day highlighted in a recent video.
