1. Home
  2. digital
  3. 1321016623

No such thing as a future proof DAC...

I've been fooled in the past by digital gear manufacturers claiming their DAC or digital gear is future proof. Case in point was the Cambridge Audio CD2 player back in the 1980s that had replaceable boards for the DAC chip. Great CDP at the time but never was really upgradeable. Now, I keep on hearing about new DACs that are future proof (eg, BiFrost DAC). The only DAC that I know that has a long history for being upgradeable is may be the MSB DACs, but they can cost an arm and a leg. May be dCs, but again mucho expensive. Do you believe in the hype? Doesn't seem to be in the manufacturers interest to offer a truly upgradeable digital gear when a new version can be offered after a year that requires you to buy a new unit.
dracule1
mapman's avatar
mapman
15,679 posts
 
DACs are about as future proof as computers.

If you want something future proof, buy a turntable.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
4,382 posts
 
"Future Proof" is simply marketing. As others have already pointed out, simply being able to replace a board doesn't mean there's going to be one made to do it.

And yes, there are big differences in DACs, age being a consideration, along with implementation before and after it (probably the most important and least talked about because its not as sexy as whats the best DAC chipset and how many bits: its like the old horsepower wars with cars-those ratings were quite misleading but it made for great copy and people fell for it by the truckload, and still do).
dracule1 OP
1,043 posts
 
Steve N. You bring up an interesting point about built in digital filtering in modern DAC chips. Do you think digital filtering is bad all together? I believe the Zanden DAC relies solely on analogue filtering. MSB on the other hand has separate 32 (64?) bit digital filtering because their DAC "chip" is not a chip but discrete resistors. Seems like digital filtering is something that can be more easily upgradeable or future proof if the filter is separate from the DAC chip.
More to discover