Real interesting article, below I post just the highlights regarding DACs but they go on nyo much more detail and talk about speakers and headphones too.
Tests and Measurements Reveal the Exact Price Range DACs, Amps, Speakers, and Headphones Hit Diminishing Returns
https://www.headphonesty.com/2025/11/tests-measurements-reveal-price-range-diminishing-returns /
Key evidence
Archimago 2024 blind survey (105 listeners): A $9 Apple USB-C dongle was compared to Linn’s $3,000 Majik DS and $20,000 Klimax DSM/2. 43% heard no worthwhile difference versus the $20k unit, with statistically reliable picks only among headphone listeners.
Notably, participants with >$10,000 systems (mostly loudspeaker users aged 51-70) sometimes ranked the $9 dongle above the $20k unit. Meanwhile, expensive systems conferred no advantage in detecting DAC differences.
diyAudio 2017 ABX session: After precise SPL matching, four participants could not identify a ~$30 FiiO D3 from $3,000-$3,500 DACs
Modern Class-D (and some Class-AB) amps now hit “transparent” performance at prices once considered mid-fi.
And when noise and distortion are already vanishingly low (around ≥100 dB SINAD or ≤-100 dB THD+N) and the amp isn’t clipping, controlled tests rarely show listeners can tell them apart. ...
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