Best practices when conducting a DAC comparison

@aberyclark   Thanks for the tip on The Beatles 'Come Together' track. I'll give it a critical listen.

@gdhal   Thanks for your ongoing thoughts and advice.

if you don't hear a significant difference in the first 30 seconds then keep what you have!  Well that is my opinion anyway.  Happy Listening.

So if a recent blind test indicated that piece ‘A’ is the best, would you go out and buy this without hearing it 1st? I don’t give a s$&# if a group or a reviewer indicates this it that, I would have to listen to it 1st before spending a dime on it.
if my ears hear a difference between pcm versions, or DSD, flac/aiff, or MQA, then I will pursue that format.

Personally, I let the reviewers do the heavy lifting.  I read all of the reviews I could find on the DAC I was interested in and paid attention to the associated equipment they were using.  I was interested in the Auralic Vega nad purchased it based on the reviews of several seasoned audio/digital audio reviewers and decided to purchase the DAC based on what their observations were.  I believe I made an excellent choice.  I live in Cleveland and when I purchased the Vega, there were not many dealers that were well versed (or equipped) with digital audio gear.  Just my 2 cents.

Dan

I agree that the only way to compare audio equipment is a/b any contenders.  I also agree that matching volume if allowed two inputs is critical.  Is there any better way to hear the difference?

There are so many very good brands out there, reviews and comments/opinions  like these provide a guide in narrowing down selections within your budget...

jhv