Well, you'd think I'd be satisfied with a DAC I spent £400 on, DAC was £300, upgrade board £70 and expensive optical cable.
However all that was unraveled when my dad brought around a cheap Chinese DAC he bought in a second hand store a few weeks ago. He set it up, and we did a blind test, he even switched out my Focal 816v Floorstanders retailing at over £1200, for a set of Cheap Mission 750i second hand speakers he bought for £19.
Had I been someone with a bias, I would have stuck to my guns and insisted my more expensive set up would and should and could outperform this measly new setup. He bought the Chinese DAC for £60, speakers for £19. So a combined total of less than £80 used, against my £400.
However, like my Dad, who I would call a hi-fi enthusiast (enjoys critical listening) who always buys second hand equipment, never on the search for audio nirvana, just merely listening (when he can afford to) to different pieces of equipment, he ultimately views 'hi-fi' as a nice little hobby that doesn't break the bank and provides interesting results and potential endless tweaking. For example, He's recently experimenting with full range drivers from Marc Audio, and I can positively say, for small 4" drivers, I've never heard such smooth, buttery, but ultimately deep sounding speaker units as his (In small horns).
So back to your point on Echoic memory, I disagree, going from a tube DAC / Pre-amp I heard a massive difference to that of a standard solid state DAC. I also recognized the high noise floor of the Chinese DACs head phone output immediately most likely due to more money spent on the tube output than the cheaper SS output for the headphones.
I have an ear for higher quality equipment, as my Dad does, otherwise we would have both been able to have saved alot of money in our life times and been satisfied with a run of the mill stereo CD stack from Pioneer from a budget electronic store.
It annoys me because my Dad can build home made equipment that sounds better than store bought pre-built components. He can build active with passive subwoofers with enclosures using the same peerless drivers as me, that can achieve intense bass and sound also tighter and more refined than my pre-built components costing x3 as much (I'am definitely a sucker for newer, high-gloss looking designs). He's heard a lot of speakers too, from Quad Electrostatic, to small paper coned full-range speakers. All the way up to huge Horned speakers, super high sensitivity running off £3k+ EAR Valve amps. Luckily I've had the privaledge too, and even when I was 12 I conceeded that my Z5500 system didn't hold a candle against his. And then there was the time I used to run a Soundcard on my PC for gaming back in 2005. He switched out his custom USB DAC, hand build bought off ebay. I never noticed until I played a game. The level of detail present was immense, although tthe first thing I noticed was the perceived lack of bass. That lack of bass ofc was because I no longer had a DSP providing gaming-based effects to enhance / colour / distort the sound to provide more bass for effects. However, even I could accept that this was much 'better', even if I was losing out on much beloved perceived bass.
Alas, regardless of what people may say, imho, science has some say in this argument in the sense that each component in the chain brings with it acoustic characteristics, from capacitors, to opamps, to valves, to speaker cables to power conditioners (Larger ones, not ones you can pick up with one hand). And that's not taking into account the type of power i.e Transistor vs Valve vs Mosfet (Mosfet sound incredible for their price). It's up to anyone else to decide that all amps sound the same, all DACs sound the same, all cable sounds the same. But to be honest, I would say you are missing out, missing out on an interesting journey. Its not about reaching audio nirvana, its about giving your ears the experience to listen to different components and configurations and allowing yourself not to pre-convince yourself that you have the best setup and nothing can make you change your mind.
More money doesn't equate to better sound.
More power doesn't equate to better sound.
Newer components don't equate to better sound.
What a reputable magazine recommends doesn't equate to better sounding equipment.
Bottom line, if you're ears enjoy a particular sound, then stick to it, enjoy it, but don't try to convice others it's the holy grail.
Joe.
