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New vs. old DACs - opinions?

I'm on the market for a new DAC. I've noticed that you can find used DACs from, say, 8 years ago that are heavily marked down from their original price. I just saw one sell for $400 that was originally $1500, for example.

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but the progression of DACs seems very different from that of amps... an old amp, like McIntosh, is still highly competitive today... but it seems that newer DACs are more evolved, refined, and use higher quality parts for less money, right?

Another thought is - before DACs were as widely used as they are today, perhaps the mark-up was much greater in the past...? Where-as now, with the influx of foreign manufactured DACs, there is a healthy bit of competition that keeps prices down by limiting the manufacturer mark-up. Correct me if I'm off here as well.

So, overall I'm wondering if I would be better off buying something new like a Keces or MHDT DAC or finding something older that is heavily marked down.
djembeplay
satch
329 posts
 
Just experience with one old and one new dac: the old PS Audio SL-3 and the much newer Northstar Design Model 192, which is capable of handling 24 bits/192 kHz. The difference between these two is, in my system with my ears, extremely small. If I knew then what I know now, I would have kept the PS Audio and spend the money on something else.
rbstehno
916 posts
 
in my auditioning, i listened to older dacs and the newer dacs, and the ones in my price range (< $5k), i preferred the older dacs. i have or have had audio research, manley, classe, cal audio, audio alchemy, and the adcom 600 & 700 dacs in my systems. i still have 3 of these in my systems today. i have listened to the newer 24/192 dacs, and have owned cd players with that capability, but just because they have 24/192 capability, it doesn't necessarily mean they are better sounding.
bar81
754 posts
 
The generalization either way is flawed. As always, it depends on implementation, some old dacs sound better than some new dacs and vice versa.
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
I've found the newer DAC's to be more resolving, but they often sound harder and less liquid. The older DAC's seemed to emphasize that liquidness but had a lack of transparency.

As systems themselves have become more transparent I think we are hearing these newer DAC's and all their flaws - garbage in, garbage out. The older less transparent stuff therefore sounds more relaxed in an over resolved system, if not as detail perfect overall.

It's all a matter of balance and component matching.

Bob
rhljazz
1,117 posts
 
DAC, after the D comes the A and C which is the analog signal coming out. Just because the digital part has the latest and greatest chip set doesn't mean the analog part of the signal is anything special. You still need a quality analog output stage. Some manufacturers (Zanden) even prefer ancient chip sets.

I like my mid nineties VAC 22.1 DAC just fine. I haven't done any side by side direct comparisons, but I am not blown away when I hear the same disc played on a CD7 at the dealer. In a side by side maybe the CD7 is better. I don't know. I do know the VAC outperforms my slighly older Linn Numeric which was a more expensive unit.
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