Mikey Salute, Thanks for the Great info. Keeping it Real. The future is great for you and your Tribe. Take time to enjoy

This is my experience as well. The d/a conversion plays only a very small part in the ultimate sound. It is the analog output stage that makes the biggest difference and not much has changed over the years.

I think this is the first outdoor audio DAC KZfaq video! Awesome!

My Goodness! this is so truthfully correct we are so lucky to have Micky in our Audiophile lives!

Best education on audio on YT! The squirrel is kicked back enjoying a margarita thanks to you. 😎👍

Great to see you do a motorcycle tour! Been touring around on the new Triumph Trident 660 I picked up this past summer and been lovvving it!

I love your videos Mike, and I agree with you on most things you have to say about audio and the industry. That being said, I own the PS Audio DSD DAC, and can tell you each free software update was not merely a different flavor, but a genuine overall improvement in the sound of the DAC. The biggest improvements were a lowering of the noise floor which allowed one to hear more subtle details and spaital cues that were previously obscured.

Heyy buddy I really really appreciate that because I am looking forward to doing this I recommend trying out the dcs DAC line up or the msb technologies the reference dac or the select dac

So true. The other day we talked DACs for two minutes and motorcycle/travel for half an hour. That was fun!

True. Good design comes first. Look at Audio Note UK. Their DAC’s and most of their products in their portfolio are long time running products. Maybe the longest in the industry. Their AD1865N based 2.1x signature DAC easily compete with the modern Dacs if your goal is musical satisfaction. This is not mentioned to start a debate about subjective or objective things about Audio Note , this DAC of DAC’s in general. Neither a promotion but more a supporting example to Mike’s point and statement that good design matters and goes a long way.

You Tell em Mikey 😁😁😁😁😁. This is GREAT 👍

Wow ..fair enough brother 👏 👍

Hi mike, Just bought the dac 7 based on your recommendation. No more squirrel food for me.😄

I’m content with my PS Audio Directstream. I’ve had it for a few years and it still sounds great.

Bel canto Black use very old dacs that are optimized over years. They sound great!

I bought into buying an Aune MagicDAC after 20 years, and when I saw a review of the different opamps it solidified my stance. People are paying $1000 for these high end DACS, that have a $2 OPAMP upgrade. Like you said Mikey, the parts used are key, and people are getting hosed. BTW, the DAC in my 25yr old Yamaha CD player is WAY better then the DAC in the Aune... because of circuit design. Case closed!

this is right and very good info.

Hey you Mikey what's up,I've had the same DAC for 12 years and it still sounds great, nothing on my radar as far as a new DAC,take care.

Biggest lesson for me on my journey: power supply is so important, and noise floor.

Good wisdom man.

Great Sunday morning sermon, Mikey!

Brilliant 👍

DAC Is the new tape machine. It was the heart of a studio with tape and now it's the heart of the studio with digital. You can't cheap out!

16/44 still rocks if played through good digital chain

I’m still using a Benchmark DAC1 hdr in both my systems. I tried the Benchmark DAC3 but discovered I didn’t like it as much and realized that it was the preamp section of each which led to my preference.

I Owned rockna signature and evaluated dcs Bartok and chord Dave at home. The most pleasure and long listening sessions I get from AD1865 with simple tube psu and tube output. Miles more musical and emotional than any of above. Especially for music recorded till 1990-2000

another excellent video!

My 1991 Theta DSPro prime sounds great! :D

Mikey, I feed my Squirrel Decon and just Loose myself in the Music! Enjoy Life, it's too short to get hung up in the Chase of Hardware!

I highly recommend the msb technologies DAC the select DAC

Hey Mikey, I’m going to be buying a used amp in the 4-6k range. Less than 8 years old. I’ve been down old amp road enough… my speakers are diy 4 way so a fairly good load. I was thinking Luxman m700u or Classe or Michi. Thoughts ?

Great job you just helped diminish the supply of preowned dacs with pcm 1704 chips like the no.30.6 and no.360s 😂

nice shirt mikey! 😍

Got my hands on a dCS Elgar+ dac with Purcell its from 2005, never heard anything like it very happy 😊

Love you Mikey , you're the kind of guy i would have a beer with !!! 😃

I'm really thinking of going straight for the mpd6 just wondering if you have heard it and how much of a difference it is to the mpd8?

You are the true voice of audio. Glad that you include used gear recommendations as well as, soon to come, different price points on new gear. It’s not necessarily if people have the means to spent whatever, sometimes people want great audio, and a Ferrari. Love your channel.

That was great. I’m a low fi guy with a node and was just going to get a better dac. I know exactly what your talking about feeding the squirrel! Halarious. Guys on the forums are obsessed with chips. Excellent video.

You made your point in 5 minutes. So why is this video grinding on for 14 minutes?

Bravissimo! You rock Mike!

I love squirrel food, easy shooting and l have so many in my backyard After squirrel food dinner l grab a coffee and go listen to my DAC 🐿🐿

Hiya Mikey, firstly can I say your friggin awesome dude and the reviews and advice you give is priceless. Thank you. My question is I have the Pontus 2 dac and I love it. It's transformed my hifi and for 2k I can't fault it. They have just recently updated the firmware and I haven't noticed a difference. I know your opinion on chi fi and won't to know is your opinion still the same and have you listened to denafrips stuff. I'm not a rich guy but for 2k it suits me fine or could you recommend anything else for around this price range. Cheers Mikey, love as usual. Mark🙏

Older DACs have great analog sections. Why they sound great. As you said, now they market new tech or some chip that offers the lowest noise floor. You don’t need to go that low. And they have no one to design a great analog stage or power supply.

Well, there have been several upgrades for the Playback Designs 5 series throughout the years. Squirrel food from Playback down then?? I guess not everything is black or white in this world.

R-2R is now my favorite DAC architecture.

Suddenly I have an unexplained urge to go feel some squirrels…

Hey Mike, I’m looking for some used AER drivers. Might you please have any suggestions?

hi Mikey - good video and perspective. No different than any other industry - some companies promote the latest and greatest fad to sell product and feed the consumer ego. What's your opinion of DCS DAC products, such as the LINA?

Wadia 27ix. Simply a killer from 25 years ago. I'm sure it would stand up to the best today and wish I would never have gotten rid of it. Proves your point.

Mike I am really looking forward to your up and coming dac related video, keep up the good work .

Absolutely agree, actually, the latest technology is not used in actual "high-end" DACs. The first step for god DAC is power supply. If DAC reacts on the power cord it is rubbish. If you look on MSB website their flagship model, shows photos of power supply sections. And you can see regular oversized PS with a standard bridge and a bunch of capacitors that cant provide more than 18 bits of Dynamic over the noise that they inject into the system. Does not matter that they have 32bit R2R section, it does not work and react on a power cord, so your buddy Jay needs to spend thousands of USD on the power cord. And new technology exists, but they making money on old ones.

My birfday is comin up and for this year I wanna take the plunge into DSD. The level I dabble at isnt high nor is my budget. I found a Sony BDP x800 with SACD/DSD support, an HDMI to DoP converter, and SMSL Sanskrit DAC can be all gotten for around $300. Dont think that price can be beat for cost of entry to the DSD society : D

9 out of 10 times AKM implementation clearly sounds more organic, musical, and soulful to me than other delta sigma designs. That’s just my experience with the “chip”.

Have you heard or listen to Border Patrol Dac? I bought it (love it) because it uses old tech in a unique way basically fits into what you are describing to a tee.

I think you might of been over sampling the word "squirrel food" to much in this video😀

Updates are not by definition a disadvantage. It is rather the possibility to fix things vs no possibility to fix anything.

Want to be able to Buy a wadia 9 one day if not a top of the Line Theta digital.

I have APL DSD AR dac - awsome dac for not so crazy money , all PCM files plays in DSD. You dont talk about it at all. Some say it smashes all gears up to 10000 $.

Fishing, shooting, Harleys, I'm down!

So - what chip is best? 🤷‍♂️

I am very content with my 20+ year old "Hot-rodded" ML 360 DAC

i had a MF dac i used for 5 or even more years, never anyproblem...sounded good

Best shortest direct cd player dac circuit ever made are in sony's last ever cheap D-JE 011 / D-JE021 personal cd Walkmans. The most analogue sounding cd player your ever going to hear. Plug them in to a top notch resolution amp/loudspeakers, and they will not be subjectively digraced on sound quality for the money grounds. As long as your preamp or active loudspeakers is at least 0.7 volts sensative, it was the best bang for the buck ever made for music enjoyment. Yes they are made of cheap plastic, but sound quality for the money when sony stopped making them at £25 UK pounds was a real bargain when plugged into a headphone amp system, or a full spectrum audio monitoring rig, with the Sony having a neutral full range sound. People may laugh, but for the money they could not be beaten. I still use them today, no need to analyse the music, just enjoy the music, and that is what it is about. No you don't have to spend a fortune to enjoy music or some musical quality. ( Just use a high quality AC to DC power supply, the ones with thicker cable, and rated at least for 5volts, and at least 2 amperes for the sony personal cd Walkman ).

One of the most knowleable audiophiles on You Tube. 🤔🤫😎

Sonically, what are your best in-house "no matter what era" DAC's for $6K, 12K, 24K..I have (2) McCormack DAC's from 1993 era

DCS, MSB, Chord, Mola Mola, Gryphon, Denafrips Terminator plus..

My Marantz HD-DAC1 is the best DAc I’ve tried over the years. Not cause it’s mine. I really wanted to like something else but never happened. Tried a Denafrips Venus II and didn’t like it at all. Topping sucked ass the second best DAc I’ve heard was the benchmark DAC3.

Lotta lip smack'in in this one. Love the hot madras. Faconnable.

Everything in home audio is about refinement, take speakers, the moving coil driver is the same basic device that was invented in 1925. It has been improved over time, but it is the same thing. Tube amps, nothing new just refinement. Analog pre and power amps same as basic design as fifty years ago. Digital power amps and sources, streamers, is where the change has happened. DCA’s have improved over time, but some people want colored sound from their digital so all DAC’s are not built to be state of the art. They are built to sell.

Still prefer some old TDA-1541A cd-player over a lot of modern delta sigma stuff.

We are just suck in to the audio world.

Hey Mikey ---- my fussy Chicago squirrels like acorns, walnuts, pecans and peanuts in their circuits. PlayBack Designs Dream Series talks about hardware upgrades due the fast paced developments of high resolution audio as they supply free software and hardware upgrades in their various products per their website. So, is PS Audio wrong in upgrading software to improve sound? PS Audio is more affordable for us audiophiles that don't have unlimited cash reserves, but still want a higher quality DAC. Have you made a direct comparison with the PS Audio Direct Stream DAC? Also, I think the choice one makes is based on synergy within your music system and the age of my audiophile ears which don't differentiate the nuances as one gets older in the twilight years.

Thanks for the advice Mike! We are soooo ready to take delivery of our new Playback Designs DAC. 🤙 Best decision ever

still unbeatable audio note dac 5 launched in 1992

Perfect timing. Just before Black Friday! Thank you Mikey.

The wadia 64.4 will still smoke most DACs out there today

I think my squirrel is a supercharged nutter.

Analogue stage is the most important stage in the dac. I have an audio note dac. And I haven't found anything that matches it. I have had playback design mps5. Emmlabs dac2x. Bricasti and dcs. None of them came close.

Hey Mikey, thanks for your videos. What do you think to the Border Patrol DAC ?

At what price do diminishing returns smack the living daylights out of dacs Mike? (In your opinion, of course)

You need a turntable. Lol

25 yr old Aragon D2A2 R2R dac is a great sounding dac but literally chokes on any input above 16/44. Dedicated CD dac, need something else for streaming.

New Schiit Bifrost DAC is bs?

Best PCM DAC with Best Possible Power Supply equals NIRVANA

For the low price of $25,000.

Marketing squirrell

He’s right dacs are not as good as the old dacs

Im more of a CAD person myself.

What do you think of a DAC called "DENIFRIPS" ?

What chip is in your smartphone (who cares)..? It's about the circuit architecture-layout.. 😁