DAC's

[Matt J]

I'm not really clued up on these, I assume they offer a better quality conversion than the internal one? what do you look for in a good DAC? and how do you know from the specs whether its better than the internal one you already have?

 

[Sony6million]

well is any thing in a separate box better? Usually I would say - there are not many one box solutions out there which tells its own tales.

These days the trend for separate DACs has gone, and not so many companies make them. Sure, they offered potentially better sound. However having a separate DAC introduced the possibility of timing errors, or 'jitter' as its otherwise known.

I guess you have to look at it from the point of view of your cd player - is it some high-end beast with a good DAC already in it? Or is it more of a budget machine thata reasonable DAC would improve?

 

[Matt J]

aaaaaaahhhh, more clued up now thanks for that.

so is there a point over the last 10 or so years were single box players came good? I see the TEAC VRDS CD players get goor write ups, yet TEAC did an external DAC for these. Are internal ones mod'able? I know Mr Coherent can mod the TEAC's, just wondered if this was part of the work done?

I'm affraid where hi-fi is concerned I understand very little about the specs and what all the different numbers relate to in sound quality terms.

 

[Effem]

I much prefer the sound of the older 20 bit DAC's and once the power supplies have been upgraded with new caps,rectifier diodes and voltage regulatorsthese old birds can really sing. At the moment I am refurbishing a few oldDAC's with upgrades and what was perceived to be lacklustre before the mods certainly isn't now the work has been done.

Clock upgrades do improve thingsa bit but nowhere near the extent that power supply upgrades do, nor do fancy add-on "jitter reducers" unless they have a seperate word clock link IMHO

 

[Sastusbulbas]

Seperate dacs are superb, as mentioned you can hook up multiple digital sources etc.

And I still think there are pro's and con's to both one and two box solutions.

 

[Effem]

Sastusbulbas wrote:

Seperate dacs are superb, as mentioned you can hook up multiple digital sources etc.And I still think there are pro's and con's to both one and two box solutions.

I wanted earlier in the year to go back to a one box solution and now ended up with . . . . . . . . . a three box solution

The DAC comes in two sections each with their own independant power supplies, one for the digital decoding and the other for analogue output with an umbilical cable between the two. Valve output too and it does sound half tidy now I've swapped a few components over. Compared this setup against an Ayre CX7 cd player and an Esoteric X-03 andit gotbeaten by a small margin before the modifications,but after the mods I very much doubt it.

 

[nsherin]

Sastusbulbas wrote:

Seperate dacs are superb, as mentioned you can hook up multiple digital sources etc.And I still think there are pro's and con's to both one and two box solutions.

Agree - I've hooked up my PC via Optical into my MD deck and used it as a DAC. It sounded very very good - I was pleasently surprised with the results. It also elimated any RFI that you'd get via analog, although using a good shielfed cable definately helps, as I've also got great results viaa decent3.5mm to phono cable.

 

[Miller-8]

Cloth which DAC do you have, out of interest?

 

[Sastusbulbas]

Effem wrote:

Sastusbulbas wrote:

Seperate dacs are superb, as mentioned you can hook up multiple digital sources etc.And I still think there are pro's and con's to both one and two box solutions.

I wanted earlier in the year to go back to a one box solution and now ended up with . . . . . . . . . a three box solution

The DAC comes in two sections each with their own independant power supplies, one for the digital decoding and the other for analogue output with an umbilical cable between the two. Valve output too and it does sound half tidy now I've swapped a few components over. Compared this setup against an Ayre CX7 cd player and an Esoteric X-03 andit gotbeaten by a small margin before the modifications,but after the mods I very much doubt it.

That one box sollution is exactly what I have been hoping to achieve, now with two kids , a smaller house and less space I had asspirations of some sort of Esoteric CD/DVD transport-Tact 2.2x-ATC active with a nice balanced in-out phono stage for my turntable, and even thought of replacing all the Mana with a solid lockable unit.

But I just dont have the money or inclination to change as I still like most of my imperfect kit, and get some enjoyment out of it.

At the moment I spend some time listening to my bedroom system where I am using an EAD Theatrevision CD/DVD transport and a Pioneer CLD-3380 LD as a transport, both into a Genisis Digital Lense and into a Technics SU-MA10 amp (huge thing with an on-board dac) with Linn Kan MKII on dedicated stands (which are on concrete slabs and have large bags of sand sitting on the stands inside supports).

This sytem provides some quite startling results, though does put disc quality into sharp relief at times, the bass doesnt half put a grin on my face

So yes, still some life in multiple box CD solutions.