DAC's. When is good enough, good enough?

Everything I read, says today's DAC's are so good, you really have to have bat ears to hear a difference.

What's what on the what?

???

I read and one side says, there's a huge difference between different DAC's.  Others write, let the circuitry be your guide and others still say, you have to buy into the $4-5k range for there to be a noticeable difference.

???

Spec wise, the ASUS STX DAC (Burr-Brown PCM 1792A) knocks it out of the park with it's 129 dB SNR and it's 0.0004 THD.  Does one really need to get a separate DAC such as the Audio-gd "Reference 7."  How good is the STX DAC?  Should one simply port over to a separate high-end headphone amp from the STX and call it a day or does one "really" need a separate DAC to process their music?

???

I will just say that Pride-of-Ownership does come into play.

The monies are there to acquire something such as a Ref7 and for me, being a certified hyperactive, "Ooh, shiny." has real meaning.

My dig is all the information available.

Let's see, go with combination unit such as a NuForce OPPO BDP-83SE, or buy an Audio-gd Ref7 and a Samsung Blu-ray player or maybe buy a Marantz SA8004 with Samsung Blu-ray player or be smart, go with the ASUS STX DAC and download from NetFlix?

???

And if I lose the DSP of the STX, then I'm stuck with what ever comes out of my headphones and personally, recordings and sound engineers are all over the map when it comes to jazz, horns and anything else hitting those high notes.

ASUS.....

That's where I'm at but I sure hate giving up all those wonderful placebos.

(Currently listening to Miles Davis, "Amandla.")

You know how Miles is, big on horns.

But, if the ASUS is truely all-that, it will be very hard to spend the extra cash on something only slightly better...if better at all.

That's what triggered this whole though process.  I read how good the STX DAC is and then read all this wonderful stuff about how good the differenct separates are and then I real how good the STX is; going in circles here people.  Need some sort of STX, separate DAC shootout.

We need Audio-holics Anonymous

I thought that's what a CanJam was.

(Where's that whistling emoticon?)

You can do it, be Strong..

Too late.  Got a used (Buy/Sell forum) Burson HA-160 headphone amp being delivered Thursday.

Imo if you have to ASK others whether you need the audio-gd ref 7, most likely it's not the dac you are looking for. Just looking at the pictures should let you know it is massively overbuilt, and imo, if you don't understand or agree with the purist size-no-object design philosophy, or you don't apply it to other aspects of your audio setup, then you will not truly appreciate the ref 7.

Agreeing with you.  In this case, I'm not asking if I need an Audio-gd Ref 7 because in this case, it's a case of buying once and not looking back.  In my online research, I've hit a big snag and I can't get off the snag.  The snag isn't will I pick up the sonic difference but the question, for the money, is there a difference to be picked up on?  Where does the line of reality leave off in the case of DAC's (esoteric) and where does the rubber meet the road, reality?

As with most, my limitations are money.  The monies are there for a NuForce OPPO BDP-83SE; $1,295.00.  So we'll call that my budget.  As to the why?  My ears, brain and music pleasure centers are the why.  But what's the what with the what when one writes regarding the "need" for a DAC.

As I wrote, I'm looking at a NuForce OPPO BDP-83SE for it's combined capabilities and doing so, based upon my reading, has kicked over these questions.  And doing my due-Google-diligence, I'm not finding answers to my question regarding a fair comparison between the DAC mounted on the ASUS STX and something like what's in the Ref7.

My whole original purpose was to simply get the NuForce OPPO for the combined Blu-ray/DVD/SACD/CD capabilities and be happy.  There I am reading and reading and reading and the questions start to mount to the point of overwhelming me and Google.  It wasn't pretty.

Epoch wrote:

I can't tell you fine details between those two since the time it takes to swap stuff in the computer combined with drivers and connecting cables means I am just making stuff up essentially.

Thanks for the above point.  I don't mind the monies so much as personally, I'd rather not blow the money as I'm sure there's some gold panning gear or camera gear I could be blowing my money on instead.

I should have my DAC19DSP tomorrow though, but I don't have any other external DACs to use for any kind of shootout,...

Even a comparison between the DAC19DSP (after burn-in) and the STX would be cool.

Oh, and congrats on the expected new arrival.  Kinda like a new baby but you don't have to change the diapers or pay for it's college.

Mr. Sneis wrote:

Effectively this trend is merely adding another "bottleneck" for audiophiles to spend money on; one that I'm going to have to look into next!

That's what I'm trying to do with this thread.  I've done my due diligence with Google and came up with lots of conflicts; yes it does, no it doesn't.

Should I spend the money on a new DAC, a combined Blu-ray/DVD/SACD/CD player or would I be better served spending the money on a new gold detector?

My basic criteria is that if it sounds different I will be pleased, if it sounds subjectively better to me I will be happy with my purchase.  If it was really worth it is another matter.

Absolutely I'm interested.  I'm where you were at before you pulled the trigger.

After all the Google research reading, it struck me that with the arrival of the Burson HA-160 headphone amp, the sound quality is going be so good, there's no point striving for better cause then I'd be chasing star dust and not being NASA with all the people's money......