Haven't heard one myself but they come up a lot on eBay.AFAIK they aren't worth it so I wouldn't bother.IMO I wouldn't bother with an external stereo DAC unless you're going to split off the stereo side of your system.
Michael.
This must be the place to highlight the musical pleasure of the AudioSynthesis Dax Decade as a dac and pre-amp.See http://www.audiosynthesis.co.uk/reviews_index.htm for blub, and
http://www.audiosynthesis.co.uk/contact.htm for contact info
As mentioned elsewhere, I was tempted to walk on the dac side by several on AVF, which also took in talk of transports, jitter and SPDIF coding in the digital connect.Heavy stuff for the newbie I was.So too was the 'how good is the pre-amp in AV receiver' stuff.Having had delightful diversion with Arcam integrated CDP, with Meridian CD combos, I now walk serenely along the dac side, with supposedly no/low jitter and no pre-amp - look no hands!!
No doubt its more than theatre and suspension of disbelief: I'll enjoy the music and let the techies do the talk.
Incidentally, for AV purposes, I connect the analogue pre-out from AV amp into the stereo amp.I see that GaryG uses a mini-disk box to do the A/D conversion, of analogue pre-out from his AV processor, in order to keep the Dax Decade in play as dac.Seems a good idea, especially if you already have a need for minidisk or CD-R.
anyone help!.... I have posted to this thread earlier as i am thinking of buying a second hand DAC to linkto my Pioneer 703 cd player and Audiolab amp.
I would love a Tag dac 20 but its out of my price range at the moment ... I have been offered a Meridian Dac 203 for roughly £130 [ actually i could choose one of two models, either the 7 or 5. Havn't a clue which is best]
Any opinions on these, please advice!!!!!!
Thanxdata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Any comments on the M-audio SuperDAC?Apparently (from reading other forums) it's better than the DAC 20 and with a few mods gets not far off a Chord DAC64.Would the SuperDAC be a worthy addition to my CD72T?
Great response to this thread clearly shows that there IS a new trend - adding a DAC to DVD players. A couple of years ago a separate DAC was declared dead and buried thanks to considerable improvements in CDPs.In my view there is still no sense in buying a mid-priced DAC and CDP to use it as transport. Integrated mid-budget CD players are clearly better value now. The reason is most mid-priced DACs use the same circuitry as CD players and sometimes do not even fully re-clock the data, never mind a large memory buffer.
More upmarket DACs is another story. Many people (me included) want the convenience of a multiformat DVD-player and a DAC which guarantees that your old collecton of Red Book CDs will sound good. The industry strangely enough ignored it, and good DACs are few and far between these days. In my view there are four relatively affordable high-end DACs worth going for - Chord 64 (vastly accomplished though a bit too expensive), Musical Fidelity TriVista 21 ( transparent and dynamic),Bel Canto DAC 2 (kind of "Wadia sound") and Electrocompaniet ECD-1 (musical and pleasant). Perpetual is a good buy used, although inferior to the above four.( If money is tight - look for MF DAC 3.24 - I saw a couple of brand new sealed box for £450 at eBay, it's at least as good as Perpetual and sounds astonishingly similar to Bel Canto)
All these DACs paired with a decent transport give most 3,000-4,000 grand high-end CDPs a good run for their money. More important they are so good - even if you start buying SACD and whatever new format there is - you still will be playing your old CDs, because the quality will not drop in comparison.
I did my homework looking for a DAC, so enough of it. The big question is how to tell if this or that DVD player would be a good transport? The mid-priced DVD is usualy sold in a high street shop which won't let you to audition it at home. So, what makes a DVD-player a good transport, good enough to pair with a £1000DAC? Anybody knows that it has to have a good power supply, a well isolated Phillips Pro spinner and well thought out circuit. But Philips Pro virtualy is gone, many CD-ROM transports used by DVD suck,and even mid-priced DVD players look suspiciously plasticly and cheap, and DVD manufacturers seem to have no idea about the mains noise.
Currently I use MF TriVista tube 21 DAC and Exposure 2010 CDP as transport, and I'm happy with the result (even knowing that a Sony transport used by Exposureis inferior to Philips). The DVD wold be more functional though (I still do not have one).But how to find a DVD player which would at least not degarade the sound of my system, when used as a transport for my DAC. ( I asked this question in a hi-fi shop and was proudly shown the new Linn all-format spinner, It was £6,000 - guys lost any touch with reality)
Any more reasonable ideas would be most welcome. Thanks.
Alex,
I had one (LINN UNIDISK1.1)on dem for about 2 weeks. SACD, DVD fantastic, best i've ever heard! The visual signal was quite impressive, though I don't have another point of reference so I can't really compare. I looked at it seriously as an all format player. Lets just say as a redbook CD player Exposure 3010 and Chord DAC 64 walked all over it. £6500 and IT STILL SOUNDS FLAT!!!!
God help me....
I have heard about these two:-
Digital Village. £149.99 (inc.VAT)
http://www.dv247.com/invt/13899
Making Waves Audio. £161.69 (inc.VAT)
https://www.makingwavesaudio.com/productsearch.asp?name=M AUDIO SUPERDAC 24/96
There could be others that supply in professional music industry, it was originally aimed at.
I need help re a CDP upgrade.
Having replaced my VHF tuner with a DAB (Sony SDB900 - excellent buy!) I am building a 2nd system for my kitchen/family room. Have bought an amp off Ebay (Rotel 810) and am now looking for a CDP. I have some half decent Akai speakers in situ.
The question is do I take my CDP from my main system and upgrade there or buy a cheap and chearful CDP from Ebay?
Main system is Cyrus IIIi PSX/Acoustic Energy Speakers/Pioneer PDS901 Micromega Duo BS2 DAC.
I am wondering about a Cyrus CD7Q PSX upgrade for the main system and using the Pioneer CDP for the second system.
The Pioneer PDS 901 is about 12 years old and built like a tank. It does not get heavy use. The Micromega is about 10 years old.
Am I wasting my money considering the Cyrus CD7Q PSX or has technology moved on so much that I will notice a significant improvement?
Should I replace the DAC but keep the PDS901 as a transport?
Basically the choice is between £50 for a cheap and chearful CDP for system 2 and maybe £800 for an upgrade to system 1.
Some input on the relative merits would be appreciated.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
Got this audio setup
B&W602s3
Rotel RCD02
Rotel RC03
Quad 306 biamp
An opportunity comes where I can get either RCD1072 orX-DACv3/X-PSU v3 combi. Which you think would yield better result,budget isfor either RCD1072 or MF combi only.
TIA
Hi,
I would like to share my experience of how my system evolved with the DAC64
Before I got onto the road to HIFI, I started out with a Marantz SR19 AV integrated amp, a pioneer dvd player (can't remember the model name), and set of Energy Conoisseur C-4 speakers.
The first thingI wanted to change was the speakers. I upgraded to the Totem Model one Sginature speaker. I won't go into details, but in short, one of the most amazing monitor speakers I have heard...very emotional and musical.
I then wanted to upgrade my cd player, but then I listened toa DAC64 in sa store where my uncle sells audio equipment. Oh my god... you have to listen to it. The dac was hooked to a rega planet, a jupiter and a arcam 9. Suprisingly, they had differences in the sound. All good, but different, depending of your preference.
I thought why buy another CD player when I can use my DVD player as a transport and hook it to the dac. The dac was hooked up to the same dvd player I had. I was not very satisfied with the sound. Although it sounded much better with the DAC, the dvd player fell short of the other CD players I listened to, even with the DAC. I found the music was not as fluid as the Rega players without the dac.I instead bought the Rega planet. You cannot go wrong for the price, probably the best performance/price CD player. It is just to show that the weakest link will hurt your system
I later upgraded the up to a integrated tube amp, the Conrad Johnson CAV-50. I don't want to start a debate tube/solid state, but tube is betterdata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
It did not take me much time before I was itching for the Chord again, and I found a used one.
Here is what I have to say about the DAC64.
With the Rega Planet on its own, the music was very wet sounding. That is the only way I can describe. Everything flowed and was smooth.The soundstage was precise, and the detail was good.
After I added the DAC, oh my god.. .I didn't realized how much I was missing. Not only did it kept the sound quality of the Rega, it added a much wider soundstage, better instrument/voice placement, depth, more filling sound and amazing detail. The articulation of the instrument and voice ist just amazingly realistic. You get the "It feels like I was there" feeling. It was as if if the DAC created a canvas of music in front of me that I could almost touch.
Since then , I got rid of my Hometheater setup, and listen to movies (via a denon dvd player) through the DAc and the two speakers. You don't get the surround effect, but the soundstage is wide, and the sound is more realistic. It is such an improvement, you will want to put play every cd as it is a new experience everytime. Mind you, bad recording will sound better, the quality recording really shines.
Ifmy DAC64 broke down, I would not hesitate to run to the store and get another one, even if I have to rob itdata:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
I learnt that the weakest part of your system will really take away from your experience.
Sincethen I upgraded the following components with increasingly enjoyment at every steps:
1) Custom power chord made by the store my uncle works for the CD player and the DAC 64 - improved soundstage and detail, more depth, better bass
2) Changed from optical to XLO coax digital. Much smoother sounding sound
3) Audiquest panther interconect - opened up the sound, better detail, tigherand better bass
4) and finally audioquest Volcano speaker cable - it really sounds like I changed up, more presence in the sound, better bass
In all, I would not change a thing today. I have had my system for two years, and still avidly listen to music.
If I did have to change something, I would probably get a Conrad Johnson pre-am/amp setup.
The DAC64 is a expensive proposition and is worth it. However, make sure you have components that can make the Dac64 shne.