DAC stereo audio fidelity: Diminishing marginal returns

Depends on what other equipment you use and how loud you listen I reckon. However, I don't reckon it's so simple as just a factor how low the distortion measures on a scope, as some people seem to think. With headphones I have wondered much the same thing though, but less so now I have SR-009s and LCD-3s, where I feel every little improvement adds something. There's just a point where the cost of gains become ridiculous, though that point is different for everyone.

depends on your equipment but i think its around the 500$ price point.

The only people really qualified to answer this question would be the folks who have listened to multiple DACs in staggered price ranges in their own systems.  You get an awfully good sounding DAC at this point in time for about $500.  I have heard DACs/CD players that cost much more than my $450 Schiit Bifrost, they also sound a good bit better IMO.

 

Perhaps the real question is how much do you have to spend on a DAC that will provide enduring musical satisfaction in your own system?

yeah we need folks who have tried multiple dacs at different prices. I kinda drew the line at the 500$ point so i still have room for one more upgrade haha. But my 200$ NFB-12 sounds so good already..

I too think that with the Yulong DAC in the game, fidelity vs price hits really hard in the $500 range.

In the realm of affordable, you aren't going to find many speaker setups that will really extract the detail even an average (head-fi average, that is) set of headphones will pull out. This is of course due to the closeness of the drivers to the ears, but also how much smaller and more nimble the drivers are. Moving up to mid to high end speakers, especially ones with electrostatic panels or fancy tweeters, you'll more readily tell differences from a source change.

For the  last years, I searched for a DAC that would suit my taste, I searched in the pricerange from about €600-10000.

The DACs I tried were the AudioGD ref 5 dsp, Meier Stagedac, MHDT Havana and the Rega DAC, that became my favorite. I considered all DACs good value for money, but their presentation was so very different, that I had to let go the idea that spending more money gets you closer to perfection.

So true about all aspects of audio.

A dac is solid state eletronics theres nothing magic about them that can't be measured, a dac thats objectivly good enough can be had new for around $200 if you buy used even cheaper. You can pick a good dac by ear aswell but it's important that you use only your ears blind tested and match the volume then the listening tests match the objective evidence that most dacs sound the same and transparent. The differences come from sighted listening where the more expensive, more shiny , better brand name, flavour of the month dac is always the better sounding 1.

 

 

I agree that moving up the sound quality chain is not a budget oriented process, especially with the added factor of looking for a specific sound signature. Most who decide to do so, steel themselves with the possibility of buying, loss of value, selling, and buying again.  

Around $200 I reckon. After that you are paying for the box it comes in and the name on the front.

 

It's supposed to sound transparent. You shouldn't realise it's there. It's easy to do. It's a chip in a box.

 

Come to think of it you can get multiple channel devices for $200 now. For $500 I's want 8 in and 8 out. 

 

Reliability, long life and a good guarantee are important too. No moving parts though. So it should be cool.

I have been debating for awhile if I should make another upgrade before settling down. Because as of now, the weakest link in my system is my DAC so I don't know if I should upgrade to the edge of marginal returns and just call it a day.