NC1111
100+ Head-Fier
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- Jan 27, 2007
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Where do you separate high end DACs from the Headrooms, Zhaolus, et al.
Originally Posted by NC1111 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What are the component differences? Aren't all DACs built around the same type of chips. Even a $10K dAC must use 5 or 10 dollar microchips. |
Originally Posted by unkle11 /img/forum/go_quote.gif i don't know about that, i just received a DAC1 benchmark a few days ago and right off the bat it is a very big and noticeable improvement over my Beresford 7510, now i'm not saying that just because it is more expensive, the reason i bought the DAC1 was to compare against the Beresford and if i was unhappy with it or feel it did not warrant the cost, well then there's a huge market for second hand DAC1s anyway, but at this point of time i am seriously considering keeping it, everything sounds so much cleaner and more structured especially over fussy phones like the HD650, and it is just a joy to listen to, will the OP feel it warrants the price difference over the Beresford? maybe, maybe not he probably has to hear it for himself... and about the DAC chip comment heck.. a Lotus Elise uses a Toyota celica engine but you won't be paying Celica prices for a lotus, in that sense the main differences here would be in the implementation of the chips.. but yea whatever it is, the difference is definitely there and it is pretty noticeable |
Originally Posted by NC1111 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What are the component differences? Aren't all DACs built around the same type of chips. Even a $10K dAC must use 5 or 10 dollar microchips. |
Originally Posted by AS1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's not that simple. It's all about the implementation around the DAC chip. 90% of the people on this forum agree that a high-end DAC really does make a worthwhile difference. I'm still surprised about the far from subtle difference between my DAC2 and TC-7510. The DAC2 sounds a lot more refined and involving. |
Originally Posted by Herandu /img/forum/go_quote.gif You didn't mention which of the 7510 you have. It would be most helpful to the discussion though since there is a clear difference in performance between the latest MK6/3 and any previous versions. I sit in a chair right between my speakers and I can hear and feel the difference between it and my MK3. Another thing to note that the headphone amp on the 7510 is useful to decent IMHO. It was a QAD (quick and dirty) add on I understand, and at least several steps lower in performance than the rest of the DAC. So comparing the 7510 with another DAC through the headphone sockets is not doing justice to the true potential of the 7510 through a decent amp (headphone or otherwise). The DAC1 is a decent set of kit. I had one, but sold it since the performance was only slightly better and I needed all those extra digital inputs the 7510 provides. Which makes me wonder if a new 7510 costing twice as much would finally put these arguments to rest. As for the exotics: I listened to a number of them, but I really can't justify to my wallet the need to fork out U$2000 or more for a DAC. You can't get a better performance than what comes from the source. i.e. your CD. The whole idea is to extract everything good from a CD, and dispose of everything bad (jitter etc). Anything else that isn't originating from the source material is being faked by the DAC. Paying that much extra for fake audio reproduction is asking too much as far as I am concerned. |
Originally Posted by NC1111 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What are the component differences? Aren't all DACs built around the same type of chips. Even a $10K dAC must use 5 or 10 dollar microchips. |