Two DAC in One System Sound the Same?


In my bedroom system I have a Shanling SM 1.3 streamer/DAC going to the a Vincent SV 228 integrated ampler.  Speakers are Warfedale Lintons. The DAC in the Shanling is the AKM AK4499EX DAC chip with the AKM AK4191EQ digital modulator/pre-processor.  The DAC in the Vincent is a Burr-Brown PCM5102.  Using the DAC of the Shanling streamer, I am using the Primeda ICs.  Using the internal DAC of the Vincent, I am just using a generic tosslink cable from the Shanling streamer section.  Switching inputs on the Vincent from one DAC to the other with the remote, for the life of me I can’t tell a difference in the sound.   Why would that be?  Two different DACs, different cables and yet they sound the same?   The good news is they both sound great, love it.  But I was just curious, does anyone have any insight to this? 

kclone

I found with much more different DACs, a Topping D50III chip vs. a Holoaudio May L2 ladder, the differences were minute. I am not surprised that you find zero difference in two chip DACs.

Sometimes the differences are very subtle, and can take some time to pick up on.  Suggest you get extremely familiar with one for a couple of weeks, then switch and get extremely familiar with the other.  Switch back after a couple of weeks, and repeat....if you still don't notice a difference, either they're too similar to detect or something else in the system is masking the small difference.  

That's more the default with objective listening. The vast majority of those who claim there are differences and they're "not subtle" are sighted, all subjective results. 

That makes sense, maybe my bedroom system is not very a revealing system.  In my main system, I have revealing speakers and I can hear every little change in front of them.  thanks for the responses guys.  

Maybe the sales pitch didn't work. 100 thou days. Some computers are faster than others. I do like the different  dak chips over the decade in my cd players and you can tell the difference  but some are > decade old. So the new chips are better and faster with only the front part of input changing sound and the output stage.as mentioned i just bought the schitt tube buffer, musical fidelity,modwright tube buffers and cal audio tech,cary, cd9 audio research, vtv 5kse and others. Tweak the sound give soft tube clipping. Enjoy the music and the science. I know people disagree with asr and thier reviews but he still likes the 100$ topping and measured the chord Dave  and did not like the measurements at 14k.