There is a school of thought that all DACs have a unique sound signature that sets them apart from each other. What this means is, the sound produced by every DAC is different. This belief is mostly fueled by audiophiles, most of whom claim that it is possible to tell the difference between DACs...
geekmusician.com
If it wasn´t like this wouldn´t make any sense in buying one , allthough today when people talk about a dac isn´t the dac itself but a component sold as a dac that evolves a lot more than a simple dac wich isn´t itself that expensive, as a internal one,
that can be assembled in a cd player, i have a late 80´s Pioneer that still works today the only part that desearves improvment it´s his Burr Brown PCM 58 DAC , everything else is built with superior quality compared to new transport or players,
as it´s lenses and laser also reading system is more advanced than what we see now for sale, at the time i was buying my first standart size cd player ,so i made a litle efort to buy a PD-7300 ,
it doesn´t get old or stops working with a very heavy use, the late 90´s Rega cd players look so bad today in comparison, also was released a PD-75 as Pioneer´s top end components known by URUSHI, not ELITE .
As in America it sells not only high-end equipment but a lot of wanted multi-players that are not that good, i remenber a brand ,Audiophile one that people with money would buy,
than trash Pioneer quality but the cd players they were using wasn´t more than a minimum quality pioneer cd player putted in a diferent box , that shows what audiophiles as comunity really are, i myself started to have interest in music players when only 12 years old, i think i´m a muisic enthusiast,
i also remenber that some like me were using their parents old hi-fi system from the 70´s and when cd players ,cheap ones were in the mix some that defend the cd format , was because of their sound in a 70´s receiver or integrated amplifier, that was above any new amplifier or receiver sold in the 80´s, this at afordable prices, today a DAc isn´t a dac only it as equalization given to make it sound smoother, the part that makes all say that it was a great imprvoment at minimum 100€ , DAC component
By the same time Meridian released a very nice working hi-fi system by components with a cd transport separated and dac also common functions both joined side by side would make a standart size cd player that wasn´t above Pioneer, but prices were higher and bought by people with more money as if it was a big improvment to a Pioneer system, who some forget or never heard that was one of the best brands in hi-fi in the 70´s.
that is Audiophiles , as they have money and not interested in music listening but as an old gadjet. As today are smart tv´s , surround system´s also smart-phones ,with high quality sound .
Some here might remenber a science ficton tv series Space 1999 and their comunicating devices , already runned over by today´s technology, or what is available to common people.
Some might disagree with me but we all weren´t born in the same year , some younger man seem to forget that, has i´ve heard some talking but running over 30 years of evolution, sorry if i´m confusing but technical specifications i can´t translate them well to english.