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Are DAC's overpriced?

External DAC's are pretty expensive imho... BUT I don't know that much on how to choose one. I want mostly cd's in my small two channel system... I am rebuilding after selling my Logans and Mac amp to go back to "drivers"! The Logans wore me out with Maintenance.  Should I buy a new cd player or get a new DAC for my old player?  
128x128captbeaver
mrmanisundaram
80 posts
 
Under $500, buy a schiit bifost multibit.
Under 2 k, buy a Chord  2qute or Qutest.
It will make a difference, how much is up to ur ears......it is relative.
Good luck.
helomech
1,488 posts
 
Not that you need to spend a fortune to achieve this. On the contrary, if you are smart and selective and take advice from the RIGHT people, you can get there on a budget. I think for an entire system, the threshold is probably $20K-$30K. Anything below that will tend to be mid-fi with 2-D presentation between the speakers IME.
Biggest load of nonsense.
jag's avatar
jag
98 posts
 
i am still using a NAD D1050 which is now 5 years old. you can get these for about $450 and they sound terrific. the NAD will not playback MQA or DSD, but it will playback 24/192 and 16/44.1 on good Classical recordings can be spell binding. most POP recordings can not compete with a good Classical recording. but their are exceptions. have not heard anything much better in the last 5 years. if NAD had thought they could have produced something better in the intervening years considering their huge R&D budget i am sure they would have by now.  the golden age of digital is over.
jerrybj
843 posts
 
"I think for an entire system, the threshold is probably $20K-$30K."
Steve N. Empirical Audio

  • The statement above is not true. Sure that a $20-$30,000 system could be very good. Not all have that kind of budget.
  • My system (which is sounding great), cost $8000. The DAC was new, but all other pieces were second hand.

parabolic
106 posts
 
Insert shameless plug for HiFiBerry (a Pi-based high res DAC) here: [       ]
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