What about all those Chinese DACs?

The Chinese HiFi industry has certainly advanced DAC development and substantially raised the bar with respect to price/performance value over the past decade or so. The impact this has made on accessibility and the future of HiFi is undeniable.

That being said, impressive SINAD figures don't tell us the whole story. A DAC that relies upon op amps and high negative feedback may give impressive measurements, but that doesn't translate into equivalent soundstaging capability or engaging audio performance.

I have never owned a Chi Fi DAC.   I owned a YBA DAC that was made in China and it was a really nice DAC.  It sounded great.  

I pay little attention to specs. Especially for DACs. The numbers that modern DACs are capable of is literally testing the threshold of the equipment used to measure them.  That doesn't mean it sounds great, it does suggest it will have no self noise or crosstalk and should sound good but it's no guarantee.   

I always let my ears decide.  That's why demos are so important.   These are the published specs for my  Lab 12 DAC.   No other specs available. 

• Frequency Response: 20 Hz 20kHz. +0 dB/-1 dB
• THD: < 0.15%
• Output Level: 2.5 Vrms

Pretty vague but it sounds great so who cares?  

The vast options for conversion methods are just one factor of many contributing to what we hear. Quiet, dedicated power supplies, input optimization and quality, clocking, PCB design and layout and, very importantly, the output stage implementation all have an impact. I have learned to avoid overly obsessing on specs and parts but instead to trust what I hear.  I can’t think of a Chinese DAC that I have owned, but I have owned DDCs from Singxer and Denafrips.

@knotscott I own a Geshelli J2S and l had upgraded the op amps to the Sparkos ss2590 Pro (note the J2Swas never designed to accommodatean op-ampas large as the SS2590,  but they'll fit with less than a mm of clearance), as well as added a custom LPS from Pine Tree Audio.  That combination is amazing for the price...dynamic, authorative, deep, wide and tall soundstage, not analytical, but full bodied.   

Fast forward to today, Geshelli now sells the J3S which is made to accommodate the Sparkos 2590 Pro op-amps,  and they just launched their Torq DAC which allows you to have it all (swappable op-amps AS WELL AS the DAC chip board). The reviews of their Torq DAC are just coming out... they’ve been positive, but little comparisons to other 3rd party DACs available at this early stage (the AKM Chip board and the Sparkos SS2590 Pro op-amp combination is supposedly the best combo so far according to Passion for Sound).

The point is,  you can have a really good DAC from an American company and have faith it can be serviced if ever needed (Note I’ve never had a problem with my Geshelli DACs... I’ve owned 2).

My upgrade plan is to purchase a Denafrips Venus (new one, the 18th, should come out in about a year). Denafrips now has a service center in Texas.

But, I’m keeping a watchful eye for what Geshelli may launch in the future... if they launch a new product that knocks people’s socks off, then I would be more than happy to pivot to another Geshelli DAC.

I've had  few from SMSL and Fosi, about $250, and thought they were good for the money, but not the giant killers some say based on specs ...