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10-15 year old hi end DACs are still great.

I’ve been looking for a DAC for a while now.  All the usual suspects in the $2500-$8000 range, many are Chinees made these days. Halo Audio, Denifrips, lab 12, etc.

 

I ran into a deal on a used Esoteric D-02 ($23500 new in 2013-2016) played $2400 USD in an estate sale. I must be honest I’m rather shocked at how good this thing sounds. I don’t know if the newer midrange DCs are better. Definitely not as heavy 60lb grr.  I figured these older DACs would be trumped by the newer mid level DAC but it seems no. From what I can see older digital is still very good and deals are out there with all the upgrade craze on new DAC’s flooding the market.

I recommend looking at these older hi-end DAC’s when looking to upgrade from a lower priced DAC, you may find a gem that still outperforms newer DAC’s in the similar price range or less.

glennewdick
frank009's avatar
frank009
311 posts
 

You are mostly right. High-End engineering truly revolves around a different kind of design implementation than simply hearing different types of sound character from electronics like DACs. You should want to hear the performance as closely as possible, not some filtered version of it.

Solid engineering means you get precise output voltage from the DAC so the signal it outputs is unwavering and faithful to the original. 

knock1
372 posts
 

Congratulation for the "steal" of $2500!  Esoteric, the name precedes itself.

"Solid engineering means you get precise output voltage from the DAC so the signal it outputs is unwavering and faithful to the original.' Yes, the voltage is the key. Dear Lord!wink

ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,454 posts
 

Congratulations. A demonstration of why one would invest in really high end.... they remain current for a very very long time. 

kennyc
2,911 posts
 

Congratulations. Glad it meets your sonic requirements. 

mahler123
4,001 posts
 

I have had a Denon DCD A100 “anniversary edition “ SACD/CD player sitting in my basement storage for about a decade.  It weighs 32 pounds and has a 32 bit DAC.  I had sidelined it after a few years in favor of an Oppo 105, as the latter played Blu Rays and DVD-A and had the then new ESS Sabre DAC.  I kept the Denon thinking it would be the source in a second home that we never got around to buying.

  Any way I am finally selling the Denon off, but in firing it back up I have just been stunned with how good it sounds, particularly with DSD.  I ran the Oppo through the coax input of the Denon and did a side by side compare using the HDMI of the Oppo, switch between them with a flick of the preamp, and while the ESS DAC has a more clinical level of detail the Denon just sounds, for lack of a better term, beautiful.  There is still detail but the colors are just that much more vibrant.

  Newer DACs tend to sound different to my ears, but not necessarily better, than what was manufactured about 15 years ago.  

 

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