I haven’t read the entire post here; I just wanted to share my thoughts after taking in the first part of this.
I’ve been thinking about my views on audio cables, they are either transparent or faulty with no ability to add sound characteristics. I think that DAC’s can add something to the music though (either good or bad). I started my headphone journey with a Topping DX7 but can’t remember much about it and never really hooked it to an amp to know any characteristics of the dac. But I do know that you can have a bad DAC, for example the Fosi Q4 or at least my example is a complete turd, and I know it’s the DAC because I hooked it to a ss amp and the exact same characteristics were there.
In a “positive” experience with a DAC I’m currently testing out my R2R Centaurus compared to my SMSL SU-9 and I know for certain there is a difference.
In my mind a DAC has to influence sound because it’s the very start of the analogue signal, the actual creation of the sound itself. But what everyone is getting at here is a proper implementation should be transparent and true to the source. With that said I’m a fan of tubes, and I just like to hear something different between my hardware. The real question would be is it worth the price? Like someone said that depends on your financial situation. Personally, I’m in my 40’s no wife no kids no child support no alimony and no GF or mortgage. I have a decent job without any of the expenses that come with life so this is my hobby. I can’t really articulate the differences I notice but I do hear them. Another concept I have would be that your ears and brain get accustomed to whatever you’re using so does it really matter if you have a $1k, $5k dac or a $500 or $100 dac? probably not. Most people just want a solution and it doesn’t matter, if anything it’s nothing close to the impact that the amp or headphone has.
I think that I’ll do some A/B testing again because it can be fun, from what I remember my Emotiva A-100 sounds different than my A70pro which both sound different than my DX7. There ARE differences but it comes down to the person on whether or not it’s worth it.
Oh and on the Apple Dongle discussion, I had a few of them and hated them until I ordered one directly from Apple and not from Amazon. The difference was night and day. Honestly if I had $200 to spend on audio it would be an apple dongle and Rode NTH-100.