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DAC for dummies

I recently purchased Aerial 5t speakers. I heard them paired with Moon products and it was awesome sounding.  I am going to pick up the 340ix integrated and the 260cd player to go with.  I have never had a DAC before and am not at all knowledgeable about them. I am planning on adding the dac component to the amp or cd player.  I hear the are a good dac.  Do I need to have the dac upgrade in both or either one? If it can be in one or the other does it matter which unit?  The upgrade adds about $1000 to the price.  Should I even consider a seperate dac at that price?  My source is about 95% cds.  I have no interest in streaming.  Really could use some advice here.
dagery

Showing 1 response by danager

danager's avatar
danager
978 posts
 
I’d go the other way. I have a fanless PC powering a MHDT Orchid DAC for streaming. The Orchid has a Toslink input and my CD player has an Toslink out so I’m using the CD player just as a transport bypassing the internal DAC.
The built in DAC is going to be a compromise but has the advantage of less cables and optimized connections but those don’t out way the sound upgrade a quality DAC can provide.
Of course it's going to depend on the DAC
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