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How to get into high end digital? (Feeding a DAC)

I am looking primarily at the Schitt Yggdrasil or the Topping D90.
  • How does one feed those?
  • I am assuming any sort of CD transport would output the bit stream?
  • or… they get saved to file and played from some media player into the DACs.

Some example of what is commonly done would be great.

The system currently consists of:
  • TT —> Audio Research PH2
  • An old Nakamichi 5 disk CD player
  • TV
  • Audible Illusions line stage (New tunes on the way, but it still sound OK to me with the old tube in it)
  • Prima Luna (with GoldenLion and TS KT-120 one the way… and I might I’ll get the VTL mono blocks 100w/ch serviced)
  • Vandy 2C and Vandy sub

I also have a Home Theatre pre, which is Roon capable, on the way… So that maybe does some of this for me as well? 

But to be totally honest, the digital side is a bit of mystery to me.
I have always thought we plug in a CD player and the signal comes out. (Maybe with some nuance in DACs, clock jitter, and filtering to separate the higher end from the lower end products.)
128x128holmz
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,629 posts
 
"How does one feed a DAC?"
You need a digital source. A cheap CD digital out or $100 worth of single board network player are much better than any stinking computer.
If you need CDs in a car you are in trouble, new ones don't have CD players.
Rip your CDs and play the files, it's much more convenient.
Cars have had USB-A's for over 10 years.
holmz's avatar
holmz OP
2,328 posts
 
If you need CDs in a car you are in trouble, new ones don't have CD players.
Rip your CDs and play the files, it's much more convenient.
Cars have had USB-A's for over 10 years.

My truck is a 1993, and my car is a sports car with no radio. The truck is the main vehicle.

There is also no digital radio or phone service once we get 20 miles out o town.

The Truck does have a compliment of McIntosh and Nakamichi, but the noise is pretty astounding, so it is not very high SINAD.

The tracking, on the shipping, indicates that my AVR has arrived, and I will convert a stack of CDs to FLAC for Roon on a NUC…
vegasears
1,173 posts
 
I did it with a Mini Mac and an Eosteric D-07 DAC.
holmz's avatar
holmz OP
2,328 posts
 

OK, It has been about a 9 month gestation, so here is the update.

I put in an RME ADI-2 Pro, and got a USC-C to USB-B to source from the iPad.
Sounds pretty OK to me so far.

I am playing the same LP from Spotify as I have on Vinyl, and it is well into the acceptable range.

It is a bit of a negative in terms of noise floor on other sources, so I’ll try replacing the SMPS with an LPS.
Or I’ll try running the RME off of the 4 port power supply I have which supplies 12V… I just need to source a cable for that.

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