😄 Heh this is gonna turn to a typical audiophile argue fest over basics, which i will avoid.
minxes0v Respectfully... there's no meaningful difference between high quality DACs. If you hear a difference, either it's not a good DAC, or you're experiencing placebo.
We're gonna be in disagreement about this then. I've heard different DACs and the differences were clearly noticeable to me. To the point that i would now consider all expensive (over 100$) delta sigma dacs a waste of money and i swear by r2r and multibit dacs ($700+) . They simply give you something you didn't know existed until you hear them (stage depth, imaging, lushness). People are completely used to flat sound and have no idea what I'm talking about. Whether its worth spending $700 on it "for you" is a different story.
minxes0v The goal is to have as close to true analog signal as you can get from the digital input. If your DAC is changing the sound output, you might as well just use an EQ to get what you want instead of wasting money.
Well this statement of yours clearly tells me you actually have not heard high end dacs (multibit / r2r / fpga) and your understanding is rather limited. That for example you think EQ can make dacs equal.
I think you have only heard delta sigma dacs and in that sense i am actually in agreement with you that differences above 100$ are not worth the money (its still not placebo, but different and marginal, not better).
But this is actually an easy argument to settle. Just listen to different dacs for yourself on good equipment. If you don't hear a difference then game over. And if you do then also game over. Why argue.
FYI i can hear the difference between flac and 320 mp3. But you need good equipment or else they sound the same. Personally 320 mp3 is good enough for me. In my experience practicality absolutely trumps "ideals".