JaZZ
Headphoneus Supremus
modern high end DACs arent in my opinion limited by the dac chip intself but by the analog output stage/pre amp or headamp that's in the DAC
most manufacturers list fantastic specs and they are not lying but what the DAC spits out after output stage into dedicated amp or headphone is degraded by the amplification.The dac chips themself make very little power,it needs to amplified and that adds noise.Another thing is you can theoreticaly make xilinx FPGA + dac combo capable of 9999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999db dynamic range but thats all limited by how good the power supply is,last thing,many amps and dacs suffer from crosstalk.If something have -90db crosstalk that doesnt rise within audible range thats good performance.For me crosstalk is just another form of distortion,so dac that measures 130db signal to noise but have -70db crosstalk at 18khz is in my book a 70db dynamic range not 130db.Best option is monoblock,some dacs like VEGA have monoblock like crosstalk performance,but that is very rare.
Yggy have perfect theoretical chips but the cheap 2200 dollar execution left it with 90db crosstalk so in reality its 15bit dac,an example how output stage and powersupply can affect theoreticaly superb chips
I still don't get what your concern is – technically. Why is the Dave limited in this respect? As I see it, one of its main advantages is that its DAC renounces an additional amplification stage for headphone and preamp purposes.
So in the end it has to do with crosstalk?