I couldn't hear any difference

doggy

So I carried out a wee experiment this evening. I connected my cd player by RCA, optical and coax at the same time then swapped between sources using my remote.

I couldn't hear any difference between the DAC on the cd player and the DAC on the amp. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing?

gibbsy

There will be no difference between coax and optical any way. It's all very well telling us that but it would also be of interest to know exactly what CDP and what amp you are using. It's usually the analogue stage in a CDP that makes the biggest difference especially when connecting by RCA.

doggy

No I didn't think there would be, I just wanted to see for myself. I done a blind test on my gf between the three, twice she said different connections were better.

Yamaha cds300 and Yamaha as301.

gibbsy

Without looking at the specs I would assume that because of the 3XX model numbers that they both share the same DAC. That's why I mentioned the analogue stage in the CDP as having the biggest influence. I had two Marantz players and both have been linked by analogue to my Rega amp. Both players shared the same DAC but one player was just a CD player, the cd6006 and the other an SACD player, sa8005. There was a price different of over three to one in favour of the sa8005. That equated to a far better analogue section in the 8005 with better analogue components and the known fact that SACD players are better at reading redbooks.

So same DAC but different results because of a different analogue stage. Your comparison shows that your system is well balanced which is no bad thing.

oldcootstereo

The A-S*01 series amps up to the 701 appear to share the same preamp/DAC circuits, with the differing amplifier/power supply sections sized to o/p watts.  

I was also interested about DAC differences when I first got the A-S501, so compared the A-S501 DAC against the Fiio DAC/RCA input I used before I got the Yamaha.  I was feeding both the A-S501 and Fiio via the optical out on my Apple TV3, so not a true blind A-B test.  The Yam DAC seemed slightly better, about the same improvement as using Pure Direct rather than having the 501 tone section in/set flat.  So not much improvement but audible if the source material/electronics and amp/speakers are sufficient quality to contain and reproduce the subtler sounds.  

Given that the Fiio DAC was about CDN$30, one would expect the Yam DAC to be better, if only in the details of board layout/noise isolation design.  I can't see Yamaha offering a radically different DAC within what are obviously similar price-point model lines intended to be used together.