Jim wrote:

(Marcus) wrote in
:

Suppose the DACs are based on (DAC) ICs, what differentiates the
various DACs? I knid of believe there is not much left for the DAC
designers to play with. The ICs pretty much are all that matters.


Absolutely correct.

There are also DACs based on discrete devices. How do they compete
with ICs from big players like Analog Devices, etc.?


In a nutshell, they can't. To get even close to 16-bit resolution, a DAC
made from disretes requires *very carefully* hand selected components
($$$), and probably can't maintain that resolution over temperature. A
hybrid using laser-trimmed components does better, but why bother because
an integrated DAC's "components" are inherently matched and maintain the
same relative ratios to one another over temperature. The fact that a
discrete design is spread out over a substantial area means capacitance
and that makes the design of switching circuits difficult, so don't count
on all the bits settling at the same time.

To get an idea of what a state of the art integrated DAC (2 channels, 24
bits, SACD + legacy, 192 KHz, $6.78 in quantity) can do, see

http://www.analog.com/Analog_Root/si...,2145,ContentI
D%253D9344%2526aind%253D%2526resourceWebLawID%253D ,00.html

(you may have to paste that URL back together)


Isn't it amazing that a DAC with that kind of performance costs only
$6.78, and you can't even buy a decent pair of interconnects from Radio
Shack for that price?