New vs. old DACs - opinions?


I'm on the market for a new DAC. I've noticed that you can find used DACs from, say, 8 years ago that are heavily marked down from their original price. I just saw one sell for $400 that was originally $1500, for example.

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but the progression of DACs seems very different from that of amps... an old amp, like McIntosh, is still highly competitive today... but it seems that newer DACs are more evolved, refined, and use higher quality parts for less money, right?

Another thought is - before DACs were as widely used as they are today, perhaps the mark-up was much greater in the past...? Where-as now, with the influx of foreign manufactured DACs, there is a healthy bit of competition that keeps prices down by limiting the manufacturer mark-up. Correct me if I'm off here as well.

So, overall I'm wondering if I would be better off buying something new like a Keces or MHDT DAC or finding something older that is heavily marked down.
djembeplay

Showing 3 responses by mapman

Your question is too general.

You need to compare specific DACs, old or new.

You also need to make sure the DAC, OLD or NEW, fits into you system well, for example, ratio of pre-amp input impedance to DAC output impedance should not be too low.

Another factor to consider based on you rcurrent system and listening tastes is whether you are going for "detail" or "smoothness" or some combo of both.

You also need to consider whether jitter rejection will be an important consideration for the DAC or no depending on your source(s). If you are not sure, then safer to go with a DAC that is more resistant to jitter from the source, like most upsampling DACS that must re-clock the bits.
Stan,

The general trend has to be upward.

Its a legitimate question but I don't think the answer is very useful for determining which way to go other than if you shoot blind, the odds say you will probably find the right DAC sooner with new versus old.

Better to know what you need and then find the DAC that seems to best fit the bill.

If it doesn't try another.

In the end, you'll get to the right one faster by looking at other factors rather than whether a DAC is old or new.

If you limit it down to several choices, some old and some new, chances are you'll pay less in the end with an older second hand unit than a new one.
I think the basic issue is a clock is needed to convert the bits to analog at the right time otherwise the result is jitter and this typically occurs at the other end of the wire from the DAC, back at the source which feeds the DAC. Both clock and connection then come into play in regards to converting the right bits at the right time. If the DAC resamples and reclocks, then the the clocking function and DAC are more tightly integrated within the DAC and there is less to go wrong.