DAC Comparisons using AI

Some more thoughts on AI.

I have used it a lot for entirely different applications. I find it most useful for summarizing information that it would take me a long time to find.

I would not make buying decisions based on what it "says".  I find AI easy to sway one way or the other by how I phrase the question.  As such, I find it can function as a sounding board for my own thoughts concerning a project.  The difficulty is that this can lead to confirmation bias.  So, I advise being mindful of that.

When AI seems to come up with a suggestion, I have found it useful to consult with human experts after conducting my own independent evaluation.  AI recommendations can be laughably inappropriate.  Usually these are easy to spot.

Spring is coming! Time to think more about gardening, less about high end audio.

I recently did a dac shootout with 7 high end dac.  I did not demo any tube dacs.  I found that Playback Designs MPD 8 was the best with my Ref 6SE.  A close second was the Bricasti M21. I could not find a Aries Cerat, but I am sure it would have been right there.

I recently did a dac shootout with 7 high end dac.  I did not demo any tube dacs.  I found that Playback Designs MPD 8 was the best with my Ref 6SE.  A close second was the Bricasti M21. I could not find a Aries Cerat, but I am sure it would have been right there.

@jaulbrich well tell us more! Make a new post and explain the results. I always enjoy reading shootout results, especially regarding components I am considering and quite possibly will own in the future.

These forum poster shootouts are much more valuable than most "professional" reviews, where someone simply states how a list of songs sounded glorious, and how it is the best they ever had in their system, how heartedly it is recommended, and gives it a yearly award, yet they compare it to nothing. 

samoh 6 posts 02-19-2026 at 08:38am I have used AI when it comes to my system in two mains ways and that’s evolving. 1. I used it to compare upgrade paths from my current speaker and had it lay out the differences. and 2. I correct my room with the use of REW measurements that I upload to ChatGPT and together I get my dual subs dialed in rather nicely, phase, placement, gain and crossover. In that regard it’s been really good at interpreting the graphs and letting me know that everything is in balance and at least set up correctly and then I listen to confirm.

I do precisely the same.  The results have been astounding and I'm a usually a skeptic on such stuff.  I've found that ChatGPT is great at interpreting room scans and doing arithmetic as well.  It was a huge time saver in locating reflections for absorber placement to improve clarity etc.  Considerable learning curve though.

@mitch2 did you end up moving from the Helene up to the Kassandra II?