Is there such a thing as a FOREVER DAC/streamer?

There is no such thing as a forever component… well for me there may be… I’m 70. But, in general no. But on the other hand you can buy ahead. I am willing to bet that my Aurender W20SE will out perform the contemporary BlueSound for at least 20 years. My Aurender performs at the level of my great vinyl system. So, I get incredible performance now… that will likely last past the end of my life. 

This has been proven to me over and over again since the 1980’s. You get an audiophile piece of equipment and it will outperform other stuff for a decade or more and lower end stuff for much longer. The quality of the design and materials in a high end piece of equipment just isn’t easily reproducible. With the movement away from globalization this gap is likely to get larger.

Woah, who said anything about future proofing. Definitely not.

But each technology goes through a number of stages. Introduction (remember the CD! Wow, quiet background… but wow, what terrible sound)… slow improvement, then rapid improvement at the high end, then slowing improvement at the high end, improvement of mid-level devices… then continuing improvements at all levels. something like that.

DAC have gotten pretty good. I think we are at the mid-level DACs improvement level. Streamers are behind. High end streamers are way ahead… but that will slowly change.

@oddiofyl 

Comgradulations! I am sure you will get a couple of decades of use out of your new streamer. 

@curtdr 

Very sound financial advice.

@kota1

I have always found plateaus that I am really happy with for seven to ten years. Where I have no interest in upgrading… I don’t want to screw up the synergy created between all my components. I read The Absolute Sound and Stereophile… etc. but have no desire to upgrade… just enjoy my system.

Then for no obvious reason I get interested in upgrading one piece… the one I perceive to be the biggest opportunity. I never do less than 2x or 3x investment so it makes a significant difference. But that triggers upgrading many or most components… then interconnects and power cords, then vibration. Then I am happy as a clam for another 7 - 10 years.
 

Clams are happy? Why is that?

@melm 

+1