Rebutting "All DACs Sound the Same"

That's probably difficult when he's showing off a stereo speaker system with only one speaker plugged in, playing at 115dB, while complaining that the volume knob is too close to the power switch on the amp. #Amirproblems.

 

^This… My wife enjoys music but doesn’t care about gear at all. Many times I have had new equipment and been listening and she’ll comment “This isn’t yours is it?” …And she is in the next room. The last change she noticed was a new PSU to the Pi2AES… I didn’t even tell her about it, but she heard it, and explained why it sounded different/worse. She hears the differences and can tell me the same things I think are different, though doesn’t always agree that they are better or worse.

 

But as @Thad E Ginathom would remind us, for the difference to be audiophile-mag-reviewer-approved-definitive, the wife has to hear it from the kitchen.

I've always imagined the corollary to that being the reviewer hearing a different wife in his kitchen.

 

I just got here, read a few postings and I agreed with all... DACs do sound different, and so do cables when you get into better gear... Started with AVRs, then went with through the Schiit lineup, than Cambridge, etc... I finally had peace when I bought the Ares II R2R, found audio Nirvana, everything else simply burned my ears and hurt my head. I could maybe listen for an hour, and then it was like nails on a chalkboard. The Ares II solved that, now sporting the Venus II 12th and Mercury v2 streamer, and not looking back.

 

It's when the reviewer experiences a difference in wife in the bedroom that things get complicated. Especially if it's your wife!

That's a bit extreme. You may have found the best for you, but does better and best mean that good is now bad?

Nails on a chalkboard and punches in the ear are extreme, and really should apply to the actually-crap and/or the personally-unsuitable. My punches in the ear came from a respected DAC, but that sound/tuning/whatever was not for me.

 

Not in my personal experience. Listening to my system, which has evolved quite a bit since getting the Ares II, was painful to listen to for extended periods. After an hour or so it was time to go do other things, it was not a pleasant experience in the least. I am probably an outlier, just my personal experience, and not knocking chip DACs, it is what it is.