Another person going digital and full of questions

DACs are a solved problem move on to something else.

Why is it necessary to spend $20k on a DAC before one hears music that sounds like music?

it is not - musical dacs exist at very affordable levels... depends how stringent one is about defining in their own minds ’what sounds like music’... like everything else in this pursuit, superb execution to a very high standard gets expensive (see: turntables, cartridges, amplifiers, speakers...)

The ongoing failure of digital to produce a sound analogous to music is because of the fundamentally insoluble engineering problems of obtaining accurate clock timings and eliminating dither.

solutions exist

just somewhat costly to implement correctly

For some of us, converting analogue sound to digital and then back again is alchemy and thus unable to be effected perfectly. At the very least, surely it is unnecessary if we always start with analogue sound.

you don’’t seem to understand what happens in the front end of the industry -- how the music we play is recorded... that is where digitization starts - do you think modern lp’s contain music that is analog, never digitized?

How have some of the expensive DACS improved on cheaper ones (as most acknowledge)?

there are numerous posts and sources of info on what makes a good dac -

1) error free input reception/clocking - with the variety of data transfer configurations, each and their shortcomings must be anticipated and dealt with

2) clean d/a conversion including digital filtering (chose your method)

3) good analog power supply and signal delivery (think why does a really good analog linestage cost $$, do we have a $200 world class linestage? of course not...)

4) digital and analog noise management, electrical and mechanical

Why has it cost so much money?

see above

Are DAC problem issues truly insoluble?

not... like anything else, complete and high quality solutions are costly to implement

my 2 cents - others may of course differ in their opinions and held beliefs

@jjss49 

Excellent answers! 
 

Particularly the note that virtually all music starts out digitally recorded today. 
 

I have noted elsewhere my digital and analog ends have exactly the same character as well as level of detail. This really says something profound about lots of things. Both ends are composed of carefully chosen high end products… and in general in the same price range. The system is very good sounding and very musical.

@gdnrbob 

I have no experience with Orchard, so I cannot comment on it's performance, but I will say that if you do compare your DAC paired with a BS Node, Aurender or Innuos, you will hear a difference in sound reproduction. Whether this is 'better or worse' will depend upon your taste.

Thank you. I'd try it to see, for sure. It would be weird, wouldn't it, that the technologies which should be present in a streamer costing $6k would not immediately be better to my ears than a $500 streamer? I agree about taste being likely to vary within a price level -- or even two -- but a streamer that that costs nearly 12x more should....just be better for whatever it is that I listen for, no?

@mattchanoff, save yourself the time and frustration of hunting around and get a Roon Nucleus music server and a Chord Qutest DAC and be done with it. That way you’ll have the best user interface in music streaming software, and the best DAC at its price point on the market today. So for about $4K with decent cables and interconnects you’ll be listening to your favorite jams in no time. Everything is totally plug and play.