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A very interesting discussion, slim.a and noinimod.
When I began researching the DAC19 mkIV a few months ago, there was even less comparative discussion of the two models than there is now. In reading everything I could find and corresponding several times with Kingwa, I came to the following conclusions:
1. If your transport is cheap or (especially) if you use USB, then going with DSP-1 is almost mandatory.
2. If you have a better transport or use coax or toslink, then the differences between DF and DSP-1 are largely (but not entirely) mitigated, and the question of whether or not the DSP-1 represents $150 worth of improvement is almost entirely subjective.
I have what I consider to be moderately good transports (MacBook Pro via Toslink and a Marantz DV-7001 via coax), so in the end I went DF. There has been (as a memorable Bloom County comic strip put it about 25 years ago) "the occasional second thought" about that decision. But in the end, since the DAC19DF is far and away the best DAC I've owned, I don't feel that I've shorted myself too badly.
Anyway, my C2 just arrived this afternoon, so now the wonders of ACSS have revealed themselves to me. Even despite a small problem with the Shark cable provided, my HD650s have never sounded more alive.
While I totally agree with point 1/, point 2/ doesn't reflect what I tried to say. Maybe if I used numbers, I could be more explicit.
In my experience, using different quality transports, I had the following results:
1/ DF1704 filter: the sound could be rated from 40 to 70
2/ DSP-1 filter: the sound could be rated from 80 to 100
What I tried to say is that with a low end transport, the difference between the 2 filters is huge. And with a high-end transport, the difference is still big and not only a matter of taste.
At the end, I am not saying that the DF version is bad. It is better than many DACs out there. Back when I had the dac19mk3, I compared the DF1704 directly to a €3000 Audiomat DAC and it won the comparison in many aspects. However, by listening to the PMD100 on the dac19mk3, I became aware of the shortcomings of the DF1704.
So for those who have never listened to a DAC that uses the PMD100 filter or the DSP-1, it is a good thing as they won't probably to pick up on any faults on the DF1704 (which is better than most digital filters out there). However, for those who want to make a future-proof purchase decision, it is better to get the DSP version from the start as it will be hard upgrade later on. Personally, I have tried all sorts of tweaks (cables, transports, vibration support, power filtration, ...) and there is no single $150 investment that will provide the kind of improvement that going from the DF1704 to the DSP-1 will.