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The 47 Labs DAC and transport don't measure particularly badly.

From a technical point of view, there are DACs which measure considerably better in many respects. However, as to what is likely to be heard, most of them are OK, although in his review for Stereophile, linked below, JA does indeed think that some of the distortion may be audible:

"However, the absence of an output low-pass filter means that the mix of 19kHz and 20kHz tones I use to test this performance aspect results in aliased tones being dumped back down into the audioband, which can be seen in fig.11. The audibility of this behavior is unpredictable, as it will very much depend on the music's spectral content. However, I do wonder if it is associated with the softness of the 4715's sound noted by AD."

So, despite your doubts, it seems that a technical explanation for some particular sonic features of the DAC is available. So, while it may not measure particularly well in some respects from a technical point of view (and I have to take JA's word for it), it does not seem to measure badly in ways which make it sound bad--it has received a Class B rating in Stereophile, though there is some disagreement about that from the staff.

So there is an ambiguity in stating that the DAC measures badly because there are two standards: one technical and one psychoacoustic. Many products measure well enough to sound quite good, even though there are ones which outperform them technically. The same considerations apply to other products such as many tube amps.

There are two fundamental goals for a sound system: 1) accuracy, and 2) pleasantness. It is not for me to tell anyone what the sonic goals of their system should be.

You consider such DACs to be more accurate to the real thing than other DACs you have used, which is your privilege, but you have not said you have actually done a live vs. recorded test, much less a controlled blind one.

JA mentions some other problems with the 47 Labs DAC and transport but they have to do with compatibility. It will sound rather bright on CDs with pre-emphasis, it is not notably low on jitter, and it has lower distortion into a relatively low input impedance, a rather unexpected result.
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---Heraclitus of Ephesus (trans. Wheelwright)

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