The most accurate DAC? (with respect to measurements)

[newaudioguy77]

It is way overpriced compared to others.


We have almost reached theoretical limits and surpassed audible limits.

Based on what?

Overpriced to some could be reasonable to others. It all depends on your budget.

 

[SIY]

Is Paul Mcgowan free?

No, he’s expensive.

 

[voodooless]

Based on what?

What you asked for: objective performance.

 

[Soniclife]

No, he’s expensive.

That looks like the OP's preferred price.

 

[Eetu]

What makes the OP think the TAD would be 'more accurate' than a $100 DAC. The price? The weight? Even the SNR spec is meh, surely they would've used a more impressive figure if possible.

For example dCS Bartok measures worse than some $200 DACs. And that's the better channel, other ch being 6dB worse. Price doesn't correlate with performance. Don't waste your money.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

How can you be sure of this?

Without trying the product for yourself or having an unbiased reviewer like Amir check it out?

Passing judgement on something before ever having an experience with it. That does not seem rational.

You need to read a few DAC reviews by Amir. Dac's are basically a solved problem. Even the least expensive DAC of today measures and sounds (b/c things sound like they measure!) better than state of the art analog tape and vinyl playback. Fact is, any number of extremely well measuring DACs reviewed by ASR have levels of distortion and noise so low as to be inaudible, and all for $100-200 in many cases for unbalanced RCA output, or $200-500 for balanced. Look for the Topping, SMSL, or even the Schiit reviews.

There is no reason I personally can conceive of (at least for measured and, therefore, audible performance) that can justify spending much more than $500 for any two channel DAC. Moreover, if you go to Archimago's musing and read a few of his articles on DACS and jitter, you will come to understand that jitter is not an issue at all with any well designed contemporary DAC--which is to say almost all of them. The most likely exception in that regard are the "audiophile" dacs with ladder resistors, FPGA's, custom opamps, and--worst of all--multibit DAC chips.

 

[JSmith]

What makes the OP think the TAD would be 'more accurate' than a $100 DAC.

Something seems a tad askew that's for sure...


JSmith

 

[AdamG]

Weekend “Bobbing for Trolls” Booth is Closed. We’re just plumb out of fresh Trolls. Sorry Folks. Please check back next week to see if we have any new Trolls to Bob for!

P.S. You guys just love to poke and prod Trolls. They just don’t stand much of a chance here!