curiouspeter
Addicted to Fun and Learning
We not only have to listen to the DAC. We have to look at it and touch it too. Arguably, the visual and tactile qualities are just as important.With dacs, I'm just not sure there's much of any benefit to spending more to get a better build. I'm OK with spending a hundred bucks on a dac that sounds audibly indistinguishable from a $500 dac. Even if the cheapie craps out in a year and a half, I'll just replace it with another $100 dac. By then there's likely to be some hot new cheapie on the market anyway. Spending more is certainly no assurance that you won't have issues. I've got a couple Topping dacs (a D10 & an E30) and they both seem well built and work great so far.
Also, even with warranty, the hassle of having to deal with a manufacturer can be unpleasant.