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What DAC upgrade made you say “DAMN, that sounds SO MUCH better than my last DAC”?

As the title suggests, what was your overall system and DAC at the point where you bought only a new DAC and said “DAMN, that sounds SO MUCH better than my last DAC”?

I’m a novice and so many people talk about improvements from new equipment as if they were only listening to varying degrees of static until they bought more and more new equipment which added up to them finally being presented with music. It’s like Salome and the seven veils. But when does the last veil get peeled away? 

So what system did you have and what DAC did you swap in that made you say “DAMN!!!!”?

I guess I’m looking for night and day differences, not gradual progressions……


pip_helix
ebanksms
92 posts
 
Up until recently my DAC was the least costly component in all my systems. In quick succession I made several DAC upgrades each costing approximately 2x the previous.  Unfortunately, in my specific example the differences were minimal if any.  IT wasn't that I had issues with the existing sound, but upgraditis.....  Anyway I'm backing out of that rabbit hole and filling it with concrete.  No more DACs for me.
oldschool1948's avatar
oldschool1948
488 posts
 
Moving from a Mytek Liberty to a Audio Mirror Tubadour III SE I saw a very clear and substantial improvement, all other things in my system being equal.  Later I bought a PS Audio DirectStream Sr. DAC, it wasn’t as bright an improvement but it is clearly a better sounding DAC - in my system.
dvddesigner
78 posts
 
When I bought my Linn Selekt DSM with the "Katalyst DAC". All digital sources are fed thru the SDSM and make their way back to analogue via the Katalyst DAC and ultimately the analogue output stage. It really has been a voyage of rediscovery. Worth every penny to me. 

The new Linn KDSM is very impressive and very expensive. The concept will eventually trickle down in the way of upgrades to other systems since they are modular to some degree. 
quinto
7 posts
 
Love my new Gustard X26Pro dac, beats my D90, RME ADI2 and previous Audio-GD DAC19 & Master/NOS11Extraordinary naturalness, both in timbre and detail on my main speaker system (Marantz PM11S2/Harbeth SHL5+40th), also the added stage depth is quite wonderful.

donnedonne
19 posts
 
Apologies if this was already mentioned, but it's important to consider DAC type. Depending on implementation, there can be "night and day" differences between a tube-based DAC, a delta-sigma style DAC, an R2R NOS DAC, etc. 

Especially if it's your FIRST time hearing a DAC in a new style, it may hit you like a ton of bricks. In a good or bad way.

Once you've listened to a lot of DACs and learn what you like, listening to DACs in the same/similar build approach and within the same price point will be a more subtle experience. No "night and day", need a more extended listening process to determine what it is you want to live with long-term.
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