Why there aren't pcm1794 dac anymore.

[restorer-john]

Why are they considered so special?

Discontinue anything with an avid following, legendary performance (for its time) and watch the demand (and price) skyrocket.

Simple economics.

The original Philips TDA-1541 S1 (and later the less desirable S2) is arguably the most valuable (if you can find an actual original) D/A in the world. Not the best, but the absolute best Philips could make in 1990. Then came Bitstream which was cheap crap. Then it was refined and displaced the 'king' of D/As.

The Burr Brown PCM-58P selection S (for Sony) is the best 18 bit converter they made. Until they made the PCM-63.

 

[Westsounds]

1794 are now available for £50 from China

What's so good about them anyway?

￡46.02 | WEILIANG AUDIO Dual PCM1794 HiFi DAC Optical Coaxial 24bit PCM1794A DAC OPA1612 OPAMP For Audio CD Player
https://a.aliexpress.com/_uGDvk3