I can't tell the difference

to Rrog: Sometimes it actually is just the same. i bought a new Bryston DAC and found after many various swapping around that it sounded the same as my 10 year old Adcom DA700. I mean down to the exact iota. i could not tell of any change with the switch of the selector when both were from the same CD transport. i can say yeah, SOMETHING should be a little different.. i can tell if a single cord has changed.. etc. But i was suprised at the sameness of the DACS. I took back the Bryston. Why pay two grand for the same old same old.
So it may just be a coincidence that they do, in fact are nearly identical in performance.
I have Maggies 3.6 Bryston 4Bsst*2 Bryston BP26 Audio Research Sp-15 Adcom DA700 a pile of transports... and a bunch of PC/conditioners
I added a tube buffer.. just to play with.. that is easy to hear a difference...

This really makes me wonder, as I've never purchased a DAC, but often thought about it, if it's going to make much of a difference. DAC reviews make it seem like they make a world of difference, but when it comes down to it, do they? How do DACs rate on cost to impact ratio?

Ryan

This is the very thing that makes the life of an audiophile a very tricky one. It so much depends on the sum of all the parts. A $3000 power cable can make your system sound horrible in one place but move it to another component and it can be bigger than a component change. A new digital cable can bring your system to a level you never thought it could reach. The flavor of the month power conditioner could make your SOTA speakers sound like a car stereo. A power strip you know little about but grabbed on a whim could transform a lifeless sounding room to the most natural, organic music reproduction you have ever heard....but change the cable feeding it and it sounds as if someone is holding pillows over your tweeters. I think DACS are just another piece to a very complicated puzzle we are trying to assemble and in most cases, none of the pieces were really meant to go together.

So I have no real answer to your question but certainly have been there. There are really several things you can do if you want to improve your systems performance, a dac could do it, even that one. maybe a different digital or power cable? Maybe moving up to the Transporter or any of the many many dacs around in that range? Maybe different ic or speaker cables? They will all do something but you will be the only ears to know if it's an improvement or not. Fun, isn't it??!!

Mustard - You haven't mentioned your digital coax which will have a big effect on the sound. What type are you using?

@Rrog, I was expecting something and when I first plugged it in I convinced myself I heard it. But I later did a blind test and it was a wash. We were splitting hairs to decide which was "better" and then we ended up picking the sb3 half the time. I'm relatively new to this hobby but this will forever make me skeptical and a firm believer in confirmation bias. Show me the blind test results! :)

I know I heard a difference when I upgraded from B&W 601s to the CM5s and I know I heard a difference when I went from a Rega Brio to the Primare I21. The CM5s added a ton of detail and realism (instruments sounded more "correct"), and the Primare improved the presentation significantly -- sound stage was more focussed and notes seemed to be sustained for the correct amount of time, where the rega put more emphasis on the beginning of notes, but didn't seem to sustain things properly (especially noticeable with horns). I couldn't blind test these due to practical reasons, but the differences were too large to bother.

The DACs just literally sounded the same.

@Richard_Stacy Yes, it is getting fun! But also expensive, ha.