What is the best DAC ever made?

It is the eternal quest to seek the best. Don't rain on our parade. Certainly there will be little consensus. If we realized how little, this forum would not exist.

>>can someone explain to me the purpose of asking for the best dac, preamp, amp, speaker, cable, cd player ever made<<

It brings the morons out of their spider holes.

For my 2 cents worth I'll say the Wadia 9. Best sound I've ever heard when paired with the 7 transport.

See the Accustic Arts thread for another perspective.

Just discovered this thread....

Thanks Ertugrul for your comments re: Metronome Kalista transport w/kls DAC on similar level as $100k continuum tt. Reviewers and owners have made similar comments that the Kalista is more like a super high-end tt setup than digital. I recently heard similar results ina system featuring Magico Reference loudspeakers.

As a bonus, the Kalista is stunningly beautiful, too.

As Linn demonstrated many years ago, the source component is the most important component in a system.