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DAC vs CD Player for cd playback with computer audio - Help old timer out

Getting back into the game after along time away.  So much has changed!

I think I want to stick with Audio Research for a number of reasons, nostalgic and otherwise.

I want to play CDs and also to play files from my computer. Streaming would be nice.  How would that work out with the following setups?

1. If I have a CD player is it POSSIBLE that I could use the DAC in THAT CD Player to play my computer audio?  For example an Audio Research CD 8 from 2008.  

2. Can I use a CD transport (like the Audio Research CD2 from 2002) with an Audio Research DAC 8 (from 2012) AND run computer audio into that DAC?

Which option makes more sense for CDs and Computer audio?  How about CDs, computer audio AND streaming?

I have a headache just writing all of this out.  

Thanks in advance!

kublakhan

Showing 1 response by mahler123

mahler123
3,517 posts
 

I tried Googling the AR DAC and CDP but didn’t get the info I sought.  If the CDP is from 2092 my guess is that it will not have a digital input to access its DAC.  If it has a USB digital input only it might not be an asynchronous USB.

  A DAC from 2012 is more likely to meet the requirements.  See if it has an asynchronous USB input to work with your PC.  If so then you are good.  If it doesn’t then you could get a streamer that has every digital output in all price ranges and transfer the computer files (I assume that you mean files on a hard drive) to a USB flash drive.  The streamer will then work with commercial streaming services.

  Since you are new to streaming, IMO the DAC is the major determinant of the sound.  Streamers matter but for around 1K you can get something that should pair nicely with the AR DAC.  If you like streaming you can always buy an uber expensive streamer for that last little increase in performance 

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