Why they buy expensive DACs? Here comes answer from who is in electronics but also in music creating.
My opinion is that they have no knowledge about electronics and they ARE in a trap!
Actually this was driving me nuts when I saw back in computer industry seeing things sold in different prices though the basic components were the same, or thins which were sold in skyhigh prices although it has very less components for its price!
ALSO... that muse-audio DAC can be cheap becouse -- it has no case, no power supply.
The best clarification for differences and sounding is -- schematics and choice of components. If adding PSU and case, then it cant be so cheap any longer though it sounds the same as device without those necessities and still having the same DAC chip.
You really HAVE TO get into electronics to get to know how that thing works. Otherwise You ends up thinking like red cars are faster than blue ones or the wine from the same bottle but in different glass will taste different... and the salesman can sell the same $5 USD junk for $2000 USD too.
And about details -- so far the best test is the specification of the component itself and how it behaves __in circuit__. And I am into building things myself too and comparing -- if it sounds different, then WHY. Here is one example that where cheap to build device sounds good too:
http://www.record-producer.com/index.php?a=5163#article_2
So far about things which affect quality: DAC chip itself (yes there are some which have -3dB drop at 20kHz and nasty aliasing, but it was 1996 when I heard
those. SO far I have heard from no equipment which is produced with chips past 2000). But now the DAC chips are better and better so that the schematic design and labour is what counts.
My story is this: I bought m-Audio DELTA 1010LT card, but the problem was that the computer impulse power supply added much noise to the circuit path.
After doing some modifying in coupling I got rid of that noise PSU. So I can brag too that I have superior soundcard, but which is no longer m-Audio.
And still
with no skyhigh cost. The similar architecture, but properly made (DELTA 1010) costs much more.
Also, second case: Behringer (but also SAMSON, Zoom, ALTO) does good stuff, but... the capacitors are from china, No problem - swap out those.
In the one effect rack unit Behringer V-VERB 2496 (that effect rack which sounds amazing and is all great but only negative thing is that its price was 100 USD only). Also -- cheap labour and production. that makes them so cheap.
So, it has quite odd grounding and unsurprisingly CS-series dacs. with 114dB. But becouse of the labour I had annoying whistle at the -80 dBFS level and power supply noise in noise level too. I have 6 units of them and ALL of them sounded the same. After some modifying I got rid of that noise and I have to measure now over the spec. Can be close to the codecs spec with 110dB. (Still reverse engineering on it).
"But wait, there is more" -- Better codecs! So, if I just use better codec inside and get that >120dB SNR both for AD and DA conversion, do I have then that most expensive unit? It can be compared to others, but its no longer that Behringer. Yet, I got more that its in the spec.
Behringer perhaps cut the costs also with choice of the ADC/DAC codec as they got CS series much cheaper as Texas Instrument ones. And if they would have used japanese caps and best codecs (what world leaders use), then Behringers device for development still have not affected with dramatic increase with price at the end.... but the world wide leader would grab from end customer 10 times more to have better chips and japanese caps *and their trademark*.
I am into tweaking things as I notice very often that to get that much better quality out from device needs just very simple tweaks what factory were holding back of keeping reserved for better versions. For example Behringer builds great stuff, but were holding back with DAC/ADC choice and capacitors. Mixerboards which have lower noise ICs, but they build it together with transformer-PSU which they dont isolate properly (well, I took out that PSU and made in separate case and got much lower noise profile).
I really dont believe about trademarks, only specifications and tests and then I will listen too
If someone asks which DACs I have then perhaps its better if my only answer is "Texas Instruments" or "Cirrus Logic" as they are those who make the chips, all other is just a nothing-saying sticker.
Well of course there are really expensive stuff, like Allen&Heath. Well, I got the schematic at first and what I saw were that there is quite minimum difference with Behringer -- they both have the same ICs inside, but the difference comes from the components, and PSU design. But based on that schematic and as I have readed it, I got many satisfied clarifications why this or that has noise floor higher in my mixer. Its much better than just guessing or the belief that the "Allen&Heath" sticker is that makes that thing. Well, if Behringer is getting high quality pots, then it all makes very pricey that mixer, but just getting japanese caps?