I needed an outboard dac for other reasons and ended up with the MF Trivista 21. I also wanted to delve into hi rez digital and have the Marantz 8400 (decent redbook playback but not at the same level as my Naim CD5) therefore I connected it as a transport to the trivista 21 and that, to my ear on initial impressions, is better than the Naim CD5 (without flatcap). As stated above the SACD output is only analog, no digital DSD stream, so you are left with the universal player's DAC for SACD. However, the DVD-Audio stream can be sent to the outboard DAC for potentially enhanced digital-analog conversion. Overall, I think the outboard DAC can enhance your listening experience if you have a marginal redbook player(the trivista 21 may even outperform an excellent redbook player such as my Naim CD5). My understanding is that the DAC will have no role on SACD playback and may or may not improve your DVD-Audio playback. Hope that helps.
BTW after an extensive A-B comparision I thought the MF Trivista 21 DAC connected to a transport played back redbook CDs better than the MF Trivista SACD player-but not by much. Hopefully, it will do so connected to a music server.
BTW after an extensive A-B comparision I thought the MF Trivista 21 DAC connected to a transport played back redbook CDs better than the MF Trivista SACD player-but not by much. Hopefully, it will do so connected to a music server.