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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
kennyc
2,915 posts
 

Congratulations. Glad it meets your sonic requirements. 

mahler123
4,003 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.  

 

boxcarman
581 posts
 

@mahler123   Good point.  I am still using my Musical Fidelity Nu-vista CD  with digital hub as my DAC 2018 and it sounds beautiful to me.

curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
5,985 posts
 

Congratulations. Esoteric is Cadillac.

8th-note
473 posts
 

I have a late 90's Krell CD 250/2 cd player that I keep in my system. I also have a Jay's CD3 MK III transport and a Berkeley Alpha Reference MQA Series 2 DAC. I realize some people will scoff but that ancient Krell holds its own against the Jay's/Berkeley combo. You have to listen critically, going back and forth, for quite a while to hear any difference at all.

Many ABX tests have been conducted with DACs and the results overwhelmingly show that listeners can't reliably hear a difference when they don't know which DAC they are listening to.

The Esoteric you scored has a wonderful feature - pride of ownership. I'm sure it was a pain to put it where it goes but you now get to look at that beautiful design, flawless finish, and know that your 60 pound beast was built to an incredible standard. Enjoy.

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