Digital Improving All the Time?


I hear it here all the time - digital technology is constantly improving…usually being told to someone afraid of buying something that will be obsolete soon. It is true that, with the advent of high-quality Asian products, prices on some excellent digital has come down to the point that one can buy a very nice dac for under 1k and an excellent one for 5k. But I don’t see that the technologies improved over the last 20 years. The Naim 555 and the Vekian and Wadias were astounding products built long ago. Even now, some of the best dacs from Audio Note and Jadis use old chips and the darling ladder dacs are even older technology. Ok, some use the FPGA thing, but that’s basically just a home-rolled chip, which does add a bit more flexibility to the architecture, but that’s about it, IMO. And yes, some companies like DCS and MSB built $100k dacs that I’m sure sound great, but other companies probably could have done the same thing 20 years ago by adding huge power supplies and stuffing them with the most expensive parts and construction quality possible. But they probably didn’t think anyone would buy them. And I’m not talking about streaming and such, because that is relatively young in its development. Streamers may well be improving, but I don’t see dacs as constantly improving, as is so often said. Good day.

chayro

Showing 1 response by vonhelmholtz

I have a modest 9.2.2 Klipsch Atmos system in my theater room that makes the soundtracks of my KDrama programming sound great. Lots of great music and much of the lyrics are in English. Janet Suhh, an American singer has found success in this genre.

Funny, when I want to listen to music..off to two channel and a less immersive, but more pleasing 2.2 room.  Digital is the future and multichannel will dominate, but the improvement in technology will help us all.