Folks behind Geek Pulse announce $120,000 DAC!

[indialogue]

If there are folks who want to buy a $120,000 DAC, that's great. I'll be happy if the tech developed by firms like Light Harmonic for such DACs trickles down to products like the Geek Out and Geek Pulse.

As a fellow backer of the Pulse, I have to be honest that this announcement leaves a very very bad taste in my mouth. I don't think that there is anything in a 120K DAC that will trickle down to the Pulse (as at that price it better be a full R2R DAC) and more importantly, it shows that Light Harmonic is a company that milks audiophools. If I had the option, I'd happily take my money back and put it in for Audio-GD which is more honest

Sob :sad:, Audio-GD has just gone out of stock on their cheapest PCM1704UK DAC, the Reference 5.32 which would have been my first choice. Guys, be advised that Audio-GD are running out stock on PCM1704UK DACs so better rush if you are interested in getting the last few pieces of a very well regarded R2R-based (even if chip-based) DAC

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

In fact, you could be financing something that trickles up to a $120,000 DAC.

wishihadtubes, one thing to be established, if and when this thing actually gets made and sold, will be is it actually worth it!

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and, until the pudding is cooked, there is no pudding to eat. But we can bet that no-one is going to buy one and say, "well, actually, my HifymeDIY sounds better."

(Well, if it does, and they are honest about it, they will probably have thrown themselves off the building anyway....)

Oh, and the daVinci DAC is hardly cheap, so these people are no strangers to hi-end hifi.

 

[asliarun]

As a fellow backer of the Pulse, I have to be honest that this announcement leaves a very very bad taste in my mouth. I don't think that there is anything in a 120K DAC that will trickle down to the Pulse (as at that price it better be a full R2R DAC) and more importantly, it shows that Light Harmonic is a company that milks audiophools. If I had the option, I'd happily take my money back and put it in for Audio-GD which is more honest

Sob :sad:, Audio-GD has just gone out of stock on their cheapest PCM1704UK DAC, the Reference 5.32 which would have been my first choice. Guys, be advised that Audio-GD are running out stock on PCM1704UK DACs so better rush if you are interested in getting the last few pieces of a very well regarded R2R-based (even if chip-based) DAC

They've been making the DaVinci DACs well before they did the Geek Pulse, and it costs $30k to my knowledge. $120k isn't too far ahead of that.

Personally, yeah, I agree that this sounds like a piece of equipment that is way overpriced.

However, isn't that the case with most luxury items? Watches, cars, even handbags and scarves. There are also many amps and speakers that fall in this category.

I think the market is a bit different. It is for people who want the absolute best, and cost is often a tertiary factor. For example, there are many many people who will spend upwards of $5 million in renovating a house after they buy it. With a budget of that league, spending $500k on audio setup, especially for discerning customers, may not be that out of the line. Consider that there's a guy in Japan who routinely flies across the globe to polish supercars. Only polish. And I think he charges $3-5k for every polish. Obviously, he is somehow able to justify his price.

I find this behavior bizarre too, but tend to think that beyond a certain level of money, things like quality, workmanship, reliability and trust, and design seem to matter a lot more than cost.

To me personally (and I'm not even a buyer in my dreams), something like this would only leave a bad taste if something like this was *not* the absolute best. And to my limited knowledge, daVinci DACs can probably make that claim.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

There are many types of hifi buyer, but for each type, sound matters more, or it matters less. A very wealthy person may be a sincere music lover, and able to indulge their love regardless of cost, but there are surely those who make lifestyle-buying decisions in which matching the look, feel and luxuriance of the rest of the decor is the prime motive.

Even among the rest of us, isn't there a tendency to believe that most expensive must be best? It is simple buying psychology.

 

[asliarun]

There are many types of hifi buyer, but for each type, sound matters more, or it matters less. A very wealthy person may be a sincere music lover, and able to indulge their love regardless of cost, but there are surely those who make lifestyle-buying decisions in which matching the look, feel and luxuriance of the rest of the decor is the prime motive.

Even among the rest of us, isn't there a tendency to believe that most expensive must be best? It is simple buying psychology.

+1. There's one thing to note here - which is how much effort and time someone is willing to devote in the pursuit. For many people, wealthy or not so much so, they simply don't want to go through the effort of reading hifi magazines, online forums, esoteric literature about quantum effects of electrons and what not, etc.

Even a lot of the lifestyle decisions (in audio) are made because they want audio to be part of their lifestyle. Sometimes even stereo audio!

I honestly don't think sound matters less to people in most cases. Meaning - I don't think people are making a deliberate choice of choosing poorer sound over better looks. Most often, they think the sound will largely be the same, so end up focusing on the looks or features.

My conjecture though.