I can't tell the difference

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 are going to get yourself in trouble trying to apply logic to all of this! the "believe your ears" thing you have going with the blind tests is really the only way to evaluate this effectively. spdif cables will sound dramatically different, whether they should or not i don't know but they will. i actually would say that a digital cable can be the most influential cable in a system. i took great care in selecting mine and it has paid off nicely. i am graced with ignorance so i have little choice but to just give this stuff a listen.

you know, i do understand that but i have just come across so many weird things after messing around with this stuff for years. i'm sure there are reasons for why digital cables sound different i am just not able to understand yet alone explain the bulk of it. no, i have not done blind tests but i have a very revealing system and can assure you these differences are not subtle. my digital cable is hands down one of the biggest contributors to the level my system is operating at these days. if you only knew how my power conditioner worked...you would really think i was nuts!