Classification of DACs

[SanjeevKM]

If there were three broad classes for DACs, how would you place the currently available DACs, according to your perception?

High-end:

Mid-Fi:

Entry level:

 

[sree0320]

Yeah! Let us see the FM's response. Me too thinking about it long since.
Iam having meridian explorer headphone DAC which I tried with my Marantz sr5008 AVR and it's own.
Both are in different league. Sound signature is different. So I couldn't make out much as iam happy with both of them.

Sent from my Lenovo K50a40 using Tapatalk

 

[humblebee]

There are amny reviewers out there who have done classification of DACs.
One that I regularly look up is darko...The Darko DAC (and digital transport) Index | DAR__KO

Another classification I saw at head-fi. It was a chart. I dont have the link now.

 

[vinothkumar]

Wow nice post.... I too Expect the reviews from experts.

 

[omishra]

Ohh, I thought classification will be like -
Delta Sigma DAC
R2R DAC
NOS DAC
Etc etc.
Then it comes unbalanced vs balanced DAC

 

[drkrack]

Yes It is how the classification of DACs should be...
There are many DAC recommendation threads, but this reviewer seems more straightforward especially when he says ..

"if you're getting a dac higher than a certain value, it's either doing something different for the sake of being different - or it's doing something wrong."

https://www.reddit.com/r/Zeos/comments/4kyg38/guide_dacs_headphone_amplifiers/

Some A/B Comparison & Reviews from him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBlADcpbxbg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFOd9p-6oZc