I don't really know which conversion system is supposedly better. The DAC
is
several years old (1990-ish?), while the DVD was bought new about a year
ago. It's interesting to note that the DVD player has a quoted noise
figure
of 70dB, compared to the DAC's at around 94dB.


A lot of what you pay for in a "good" DAC is the quality of the non-digital
side. The power supplies and the audio amps as well as the attention to
detail in putting it all together. I suspect this has more influence on the
"sound" than the digital side.