Both are critical. For ~ 3 years I had a Audiolab 6000CDT (MSRP $599) which I THOUGHT I WAS HAPPY WITH- except for missing bass, but I only paid $300 used. It was connected to my Audio Alchemy DDP-1+ PS 5. Eventually I thought about either upgrading the DCA/Pre or replacing the CDT. Thankfully, I opted to replace the transport with a Shanling ET3 ($729): it exposed great sound hiding in my DAC/Pre. In a word THRILLED
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