yawg
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2005
- Posts
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- 93
The ELE DAC is pretty close, but admittedly, it's not as good as, say, the ODAC. A bit of an exaggeration on my part earlier, but honestly, the $10 DAC is 90% of the ODAC, and the ODAC to me is 100% of the PW2. I've stated repeatedly beforehand that I couldn't tell even the slightest difference between the ODAC and the PW2 using TOTL gear (HD800, TH-900, LCD-3, SR-303, etc.), and I had a virtually instant mechanism to switch between the two.
I think my $50 DAC is at least on the verge of being audibly transparent (as long as you're not using it as an amp as well), and the form factor is incredible. I see little reason to upgrade or buy anything else, and I would recommend it to anyone in PC audio because of its excellent simplicity, durability, size, price point, and performance.
Just compare your DACs with a (even older) DAC that has a decent tubed line stage. And the tubes should be first class NOS. Then you will hear a big difference, believe me ... If your ears are not "shot" already - nothing to do with hearing less of the extended treble when you get older. I'm 63 years old myself but still can hear the difference. Tested my hearing with a test CD and could still hear 14.000 Hz albeit that frequency was somewhat attenuated in my right ear. And I went to a lot of loud concerts ...