I myself have listened to many different dacs and all of them have about the same specs but the expensive ones tend to sound clearer with less distortion. Is there some other way to measure a dac quality other than price?
Its the analog output stage, not the chip that is in it that makes the difference. The engineering that goes into the analog output and the signal path after the chip in the analog stage will make two DACs that have exactly the same chip sound different from one another!
This is apparent on iFi products, like the Gryphon and the Diablo. They both use a Burr Brown chipset, yet they sound different, with the Diablo having wider and deeper soundstage, better bass extension with cleaner notes, not to mention higher output power and a blacker background with sensitive headphones. Measures better too, with higher dynamic range, THD/N and SNR, leading to cleaner sound with larger differences between the softest and loudest notes.
The power supply is important too, this determines the noise floor of the DAC, and a lot more. The power supply filtering and the quality of components used there is another factor separating the cheap from the more expensive DACs, but I think its secondary to the engineering that goes into the analog output and how the chip is incorporated into the analog stage.
Sound quality reproduction is very subjective. Additionally one must consider the gear used in your system as it is important they have synergy between them. Just as important, some believe even more important, is room treatment. A poorly arranged/setup room will make even the most expensive high quality gear seem lackluster even boring. With that said, here are the DACs/network streamers I owned. All also can be used as preamps.
NAD C658 - good all around device
Auralic Altair G2.1 - Overall much better than the NAD
Ayre QX-8 - Better than the Auralic but not the same quality gap as between the NAD and Auralic.
Aurender A20 - This one is on a whole other level than the Ayre. As is to be expected.
I have found no matter the gear, once you get above the $10K cost point per device the quality of sound reproduction is audibly better.
My opinion
Well I’m not gonna spend that amount of money on audio gear but yeah if speaker quality and ESPECIALLY the room are MUCH more important, the dac is just the cherry on top. My living room is quite big with tall ciellings (made of concrete and bricks), when I needed to change the furniture the room was really empty, that made the music sound echoy and harsh. It’s facinating what little things like that make to the experience!
The difference is pretty much in the power supply and analog output.
An observational assessment of my ‘white box’ DVD player from Amazon (literally no brand name on it anywhere).
The output of the DVD player’s RCAs sounds the same on my system as the optical or coax routed through my SMSL SU-1 DAC.
I assumed the DVD Player’s internal would be lower quality, color the sound, induce some noise, something.
Nope…Optical, RCA, and Digital Coax all sounded exactly the same. The mechanical parts of the player itself is noisy when spinning up, but …yeah…I think the difference in much of the digital gear isn’t maybe the much chips and circuits as it is the parts tolerances, build quality, and “extra features” (if any).
Nothing.
With all things equal in a system reproducing sounds the way you want, changing the DAC should be materially different for the better of what you value in reproductive sound.
Just listen and determine if there is value to you. I don’t chase perfection. I chase not messing up what I have achieved. I finally have synergy. I can listen for hours knowing it isn’t the most resolving or the biggest stage but just a magic enjoyment. Will I stop looking for more? Of course not.
All this talk about the best DAC is mute to me. There is too much competitive jostling for recognition. Camps form around different preferences. “Mine is better than yours”. Follow your ears and be prudent to your wallet. Somewhere there is a genius electrical engineer but also somewhere is a marketing department trying to part with your money.