The DAC scam

[Al ears]

Yeah Heinz beans are stupidly sweet.

I think this thread has been well and truely canned......

 

[DCarmi]

What a Shocker, it has to be a SCAM, Heinz Beans fails the Telegraph Taster Test but Lidl beans are rated highly

BBC Good Food "experts" rate Heinz and Aldi as the best and Lidl a bit behind. Though Aldi being 99p cheaper than the Heinz at Sainsbury, I know which I'd choose.

(You do realise the Nisbet's is a catering tin of over 6 times of normal Heinz size?)

 

[podknocker]

I finally watched this video and I agree with everything he says. All the silicon chippery and power regulation parts, in a nice case and with a display, should cost no more than a few hundred quid. The very expensive products use the same DACs as cheaper ones. Expensive 'DACs' are the sane as expensive cables, snake oil and a true waste of money.

Another great video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOOHneFYGYA

 

[Witterings]

I finally watched this video and I agree with everything he says. All the silicon chippery and power regulation parts, in a nice case and with a display, should cost no more than a few hundred quid. The very expensive products use the same DACs as cheaper ones. Expensive 'DACs' are the sane as expensive cables, snake oil and a true waste of money.

Another great video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOOHneFYGYA

If you could give us some detail of the different DACs you've personally tested over a reasonable period of time in your home environment, how you volume matched them and how you managed to play the exact same source to each of them, would love to her more about it.

 

[podknocker]

If you could give us some detail of the different DACs you've personally tested over a reasonable period of time in your home environment, how you volume matched them and how you managed to play the exact same source to each of them, would love to her more about it.

I trust the professional and technical people in these videos to do that for me. I'd rather trust their views and opinions than many of the wackos on this forum.

 

[manicm]

I trust the professional and technical people in these videos to do that for me. I'd rather trust their views and opinions than many of the wackos on this forum.

So then why buy seperate DACs and not rely on ones in integrated amps?

 

[podknocker]

So then why buy seperate DACs and not rely on ones in integrated amps?

Perhaps people like wasting their money?

The DAC in my Audiolab Omnia costs £15 if your a vendor buying in bulk and I can confirm it does the job and sounds great.

I can't be bothered to check, but there must be around 6 DACs in use these days, from 3 or 4 chip makers.

These DACs are all fully capable of resolving modern formats and all do exactly the same thing.

It is a fact that many people are snobs and fully believe spending thousands on kit containing tiny chips of silicon, or a few metres of industrial strength copper, is worthwhile.

 

[Al ears]

Perhaps people like wasting their money?

The DAC in my Audiolab Omnia costs £15 if your a vendor buying in bulk and I can confirm it does the job and sounds great.

I can't be bothered to check, but there must be around 6 DACs in use these days, from 3 or 4 chip makers.

These DACs are all fully capable of resolving modern formats and all do exactly the same thing.

It is a fact that many people are snobs and fully believe spending thousands on tiny chips of silicon, or a few metres of industrial strength copper, is worthwhile.

I think we are back to the same old argument in that DACs are not simply about the chip itself but the whole of the circuitry that is necessary to make that chip function and how well it does the job.

 

[podknocker]

I think we are back to the same old argument in that DACs are not simply about the chip itself but the whole of the circuitry that is necessary to make that chip function and how well it does the job.

This is true and it's not just the DAC doing the heavy lifting, but there's also a finite amount you can spend on resistors, caps, other circuitry, displays and casework.

Some of these products have ridiculous price tags and the parts used inside are fairly cheap.

 

[davidf]

Some manufacturers still choose their DAC chips based on how they sound, so there must still be some sort of difference between them for the manufacturer's to go to that trouble. If they were all the same, they'd just use the cheapest they can get their hands on.

 

[podknocker]

Some manufacturers still choose their DAC chips based on how they sound, so there must still be some sort of difference between them for the manufacturer's to go to that trouble. If they were all the same, they'd just use the cheapest they can get their hands on.

I think many companies use the latest and 'best' items or bragging rights. If you look at the specs of these DACs, they are very similar and their function is same across each model. As I mentioned above, there are (sticking neck out) less than 10 DACs in use for 'DACs' today and they are all around £15 to £50 so not much in it and the cheaper ones like mine are just last gen with perhaps different tooling costs and older architecture, much like CPUs etc. AKM and ESS make many chips and most are suitable for HIFI and media products. Some have higher operating temperatures for use in vehicles etc.

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