The dac in my Denon DCD-1700NE sacd player is pretty good. I had tried running it through my Gustard R26 dac via a coaxial digital connection. I tended to prefer the dac in the Denon. I have several digital cables (XLO Ultra, Harmonic Technology, Morrow). On a whim, I bought an Acoustic Zen mc2 coaxial cable. I didn't expect much, but I found a used cable for a good price. With this cable, the sq is very close to streaming. I had considered buying a dedicated transport, but I don't think I'll bother now. If I do, it would be something like the Shanling with a USB digital output. I can rip cds with my Innuos Zen Mk3, so having the ultimate cd player is not a huge priority.
Dedicated CD Transport vs DAC
Greetings,
Just some honest questions...
In your opinion, based on what you have actually experienced....
1) Which accounts for the most sonic improvement? A quality dedicated CD Transport or a Quality DAC?
2) If a person could assign a percentage... by what % did your cd transport improve your sound? By what % did your new dac improve your sound?
3) If you honestly gained an improvement in sound... was it like, " Oh my God, I can't believe how great this improvement is " or is it more like, " I can hear an improvement but no wheres nearly commensurate with the increase in price it cost me."
Coming from being highly invested in vinyl playback for the last 50 years... I'm struggling trying to decide how to improve the cd playback side of my system.
Up to this point in time, I've usually found cd playback to oftentimes sound hard, glaring, sterile, two dimensional, etc.
Which in your mind, helps to eliminate the above sound qualities that I dislike? A new dedicated cd transport or a new dac?
Thanks much for taking the time to reply and help me better understand!
Best wishes,
Don