DACs and sources
Every detail the recording holds, recovered.
Conversion is where detail is either recovered or quietly thrown away
A digital file or a disc is not music yet. Something has to turn it back into a voltage a loudspeaker can move air with, and how well that is done decides how much of the original performance survives the trip.
It is also the least visible part of a system and the easiest to underestimate. Most people notice it only once — when they hear the same recording through something better and realize what had been missing the whole time.
How to choose
By what the rest of your system can show you. A converter can only reveal what the amplification and loudspeakers can pass on. If you are building from scratch, a system is an easier decision than four separate ones — and if you already have equipment you are happy with, this is often where the biggest single improvement is waiting.
“Spatial detail against a crystal-clear background — it makes you want to sketch the concert hall by ear.”
We publish the actual bench measurements, per channel. Very few manufacturers do, and in a category full of adjectives it is the most persuasive sentence on the page.
