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DAC Confusion

Just picked up a used Bluesound N100 at a local HiFi store in my parts that was listed here. Mentioned to the sales guy that I am starting fresh with a new system and need amplification. He suggested an integrated amp with a built-in DAC (NAD 368). Here’s my question: aside from the relative merits of that NAD unit, why would I need a built-in DAC when the N100 has its own DAC? He claimed the NAD DAC is superior to the one in the N100 and thus worth the extra $ I’d be paying compared with an integrated without a DAC. Hmmmm.... really? I know there can be qualitative, significant differences in performance between DACs, but between the one in the NAD 368 vs the N100? I’m a bit skeptical, and he didn’t seem too eager to let me do a listening test.

Bottom line, I gotta buy an integrated and my shelf space (and budget) is a bit tight, so if I’m gonna go the “Swiss army knife” route (to borrow a phrase from a related thread), it’s gonna be for a built-in phono stage for my LPs, not a redundant built-in DAC.

BTW, this will be driving a pair of efficient bookshelf speakers so I don’t need a ton of power. Of course, I mentioned that to the sales guy and he argued that I should buy as much power now as I could afford, to “future-proof” my purchase in case I decide to upgrade to more difficult-to-drive speakers later on. 

That’s when I left the store ;)

Sorry for the long-winded post. I’m a newbie and my head is spinning a bit over all of this.


128x128davidb928
ianrodger
164 posts
 
david,
if you do consider an integrated amp/dac solution, Peachtree are well worth considering. They are a sonic and visual delight imo
davidb928's avatar
davidb928 OP
6 posts
 
I lost out on the last Peachtree I bidded for (220SE), so the search continues. Although they do sell direct and the Sky is available on sale. (220SE was probably overkill for me anyway.) decisions, decisions...
davidb928's avatar
davidb928 OP
6 posts
 
Well, I kind of went against the no-DAC integrated amp argument and got a NAD C328, couldn’t resist a great open-box sale at local audio store. I can switch back and forth between toslink, which will use the DAC in the NAD, I believe, and RCA cables, which will
use the DAC in the N100, to see if I can tell a difference between the two. (Do I have that right?)

A new question: sales person in audio store denigrated Toslink as an inferior cable format for sending audio signals. He said he’d opt for high-quality RCA cables as preferred way to hook up the N100 (which only has toslink and RCA, no coaxial) to the NAD. Of course he wants to sell me either AudioQuest ($75) or Kimber Cable RCAs ($149), which is kind of steep (to me) but he said worth the outlay for the superior sound they’d yield compared with cheap cables.

So, RCA versus Toslink in this setup? Worth the money for the cables he’s suggesting?

thanks! 
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