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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 1 response by ptmconsulting

ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
I've found the newer DAC's to be more resolving, but they often sound harder and less liquid. The older DAC's seemed to emphasize that liquidness but had a lack of transparency.

As systems themselves have become more transparent I think we are hearing these newer DAC's and all their flaws - garbage in, garbage out. The older less transparent stuff therefore sounds more relaxed in an over resolved system, if not as detail perfect overall.

It's all a matter of balance and component matching.

Bob
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