Digital to Analog-Converter needed?

All cd players have digital to analog conerters (DAC's) built in, no need to buy one. Seperate DAC's were very popular in the 90's, but not as common today. You would only NEED a DAC if you buy a cd transport, which reads the disc only. A cd player has both the transport mechanism and DAC built into one unit, similar to an integrated amp has both preamp and amp functions.

Cheers,
John

Thanks John! I have not bought a new CD player in 20 years and have not kept up on the changes.

Thank you,

Mike

Hi Mike, just a point of clarification, a 'cd player' hasn't changed. 20 years ago, a cd player had a transport and DAC built in, just as it does today. The same way an integrated amp from 20 years ago had a preamp and amp built in, just as it does today.

DAC's became popular in the 90's, as folks went to digital seperates, just as folks go from integrated amps to seperates. I think the resurgence of vinyl, along with issues that came up from digital seperates such as 'jitter' and/or clock problems have led many back to cd players today. You can certainly still find digital seperates today, but they are not as widely used as they were in the 90's.

Cheers,
John

One reason that you might want a standalone DAC is for use with a computer based digital playback system. Many DAC's have multiple inputs which would allow the use of a CD transport and/or some other device like a Squeezebox or your PC while gaining the sound quality of a good DAC. Just my take on this and YMMV.