I dont agree. Having modded about 12 different DAC's from the early Meridians to the Benchmark, I have found that not only the DAC chips, but the upsampling chips have gotten a LOT better in recent years. You just need to hear the right DAC chip in a well-executed implementation. It's the difference between a detailed sound and a lush, beautiful lifelike sound that is not only unfatigueing, but actually captivating, approaching vinyl quality. The rest of your system must be up to the task though...
old vs new DAC designs and sound differences
Hello fellow Audiogoners, there are alot of DACs around. After having listened to various DACs, I come to the conclusion that differences between DACs are not dramatic. Some relatively old DACs, like the Accuphase DC-91 or the Wadia 9 can still compete with the best of the current DACs. So age (with regard to design) doesn't matter much (1). There is actually no real difference between non-oversampling, filterless designs and the over and upsampling designs with the most difficult and sophisticated algorithms (2). A good sounding DAC, whether it is old, new, non oversampling or over and upsampling remains a good sounding DAC. Differences between loudspeakers are much bigger. Even differences between power amps are more significant than between two well designed DACs (3). So there is no reason at all to replace your albeit old but still good sounding DAC. I know I'll keep my oldskool Accuphase.