8 Reasons why you should buy an $50,000 DAC

Interesting fact and interesting journey! 

Thanks for your thread i understand better your intention now ...

It is why i insist on acoustics ... My 1000 bucks system satisfied me after electrical,mechanical and especially acoustical optimization...I am retired but most people dont have the money  as a studio and your friend, nor the time to learn basic acoustics and experiments ... Then they buy costlier gear in an illusory pursuit... Their sound experience will become good with better designed gear and price but they will never reach the optimum peak and certainly not the maximum acoustical peak experience.... Money dont replace acoustics...

My deepest respect enjoy your dac/system ...

lol @larryi

@mahgister I completely agree with you. I am writing my next to next post about that experience. My friend has a professional recording studio, a room on which more $100000 was spent, his pro audio ADC/DAC costs 700$, but never in my life even if I spend a million on audio gear would I equal the sound he gets in his studio.

Looking back, my DAC purchase made very little sense, it’s retail price (I did not pay retail) was more than the rest of my system, which was at the time all Nagra gear (purchased used).

If 50K$ was nothing for me, I wouldn’t have written this post making fun of myself and my silly audiophile decisions. But I agree the way high end prices are rocketing they make you feel like $50K is nothing.

I recommend you spend $95,000 for a DAC  

For example, “The MSB Cascade DAC, priced at $95,000, features a tri-chassis design dividing digital processing, analog conversion, and power supply into three dedicated units: the Cascade Digital Director, the Cascade Analog Converter, and the Cascade Power-base.

It uses eight new Hybrid DAC MKII modules for ultra-high resolution and ultra-low noise digital-to-analog conversion, paired with a custom oven-controlled dual crystal 33-femtosecond clock for precise timing. The DAC boasts a fully balanced, constant impedance, passive analog volume attenuation output stage and accepts analog inputs through a low-noise buffer stage. It uses MSB’s proprietary Cascade-Link optical interface to transmit data noise-free between the Digital Director and Analog Converter.

The Powerbase features discrete silicon carbide rectifiers and ultra-low noise linear power supplies, with the entire system designed to maximize purity and clarity of analog playback. The Cascade DAC also offers advanced streaming capabilities, including MQA decoding, Roon Endpoint, and high-resolution PCM and DSD support. It is available in silver or black finishes with optional custom accents”.  

IMHO, NOT FOR ME!

Sure.  Then put a sign in your front yard that you own a $50,000 DAC, preferably next to your Bentley.  

You work hard you play hard so do your research and enjoy the music.

When you want to improve your system, it is hard to decide what to invest in.  This is my experience.  I have a large room with high ceilings, and with the digital side of my system, I was hearing some harshness  in my system at high volume, which was causing fatigue.   As a modest income guy, that mostly buys used equipment that I could not afford new, I was not too motivated to change out my components...  I was primarily focusing on changing my DAC, thinking I had to go RTR.  In the end,  I decided to focus on where I had skimped before changing components.  First, I moved my speakers farther apart and changed the toe in.  Then, I upgraded all my interconnects, speaker cables, power cables, added footers, changed all my worn reissue preamp & amps "small" tubes to high quality vintage tubes, and added an audiophile grade rack.  Viola !  that fixed it.  What a huge difference !  Everyone noticed the difference, and I can now play at any volume without fatigue.  So, the lesson I learned is that an expensive DAC will probably improve your sound, but, may not fix what you are trying to fix if you have weaknesses elsewhere... 

PS.. although now, I would like to hear what a higher quality DAC will do for me. lol...