NOS DAC's without any digital filtering?

"09-24-15: Coli
And yes, Zd542, the Directstream sounded horrible. The market price for it just keeps going to down reflects that. $2950 and no buyers. "

I never asked about the Directstream. A lot of other posters have asked you questions. Why not answer them?

Okay, that makes complete sense now. Thanks!

So even with a NOS DAC I assume there is still benefit of using hi-res files? Why would somebody want to up-sample redbook in their software (foobar, JRMC, Amarra, etc.)? I haven't tried this in a few years but I recall that I preferred the sound w/o the upsampling (in JRMC).

Hmmm.

I don't see any questions directed at me in this thread?

You generally won't be able to tell how much modern DAC sucks until you got a really high end accurate system. That means super high damping (making integrating the amp into the speaker mandatory), plus you'll need balanced power (to reduce noise by 10-20db, a miracle btw), you'll also need low jitter input, but that still leaves a huge weak spot the analog XLR cable, so you'll need a very good one there too.

So if your current DAC sounds fine, don't upgrade your gears :)

Sorry, my last post was directed at Bombaywalla.