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I need help - Better DAC or NEW CD player?

I am in the middle of purchasing some components for my new system, unfortunately, reading posts on a rainy night on Audigon only makes my "upgradeatitis" syndrom more acute.

The problem is that some time ago, I bought a squeezebox Duet, to use as transport for lossless files. The idea obviously was to get a good DAC to go along with it.

The one I was almost set on was the Dacmagic, which gets very good reviews here and almost everywhere you look. But, on the other hand, I am willing to spend a little more......Now, the thing is my current CD player is a Rotel RCD 1072, and was wondering whether this Dacmagic would give me any improvements if I use the rotel as a transport for it.

Or, I could get for example a Wyred DAC or a Benchmark DAC1 and use the Rotel for transport, but I dont know the limits of the Rotel as transport alone, I dont want to spend 600 more bucks on a better DAC to be fed with 2 "not so good" transports (the Duet and the Rotel).

So I am kinda stuck!! On the other hand I am contemplating getting the Dacmagic to use only for the Duet, and getting a new better CD player altogether, which puts me into another doubt, I dont know if the little money I can for the rotel + lets say 1000 more will really give me any improvements in the system if I purchase a whole new CD player since the Rotel is said to be very capable.

FWIW my amp will be a W4S STI500 and speakers are B&W 803D.

Let me know what you think about this and your suggestions on what you would do.... thanks in advance for all your help!
demianm

Showing 6 responses by demianm

demianm OP
18 posts
 
For just as good, I´d rather get the 840C. I mean a really better one!
demianm OP
18 posts
 
There is one thing I dont like about the Benchmark - There is only one coaxial input.

I would like to use it for my Squeezebox, my CD player/transport and Oppo BRP. I know I have the coaxial and toslink available, but most people say coaxial is better over the toslink. I also could use the Oppo for CD but I think it sucks for that use, mainly due to loading times, I´d rather use it only for video but nonetheless somewhere in the future upgrade my CD transport.
demianm OP
18 posts
 
Dont worry, I am getting a ton of information nonetheless. Just to add a bit more confusion, does anyone have anything to say about the W4S dac-1 which is coming out now? It is said to be better than the stage 4 PS audio DLIII which was indeed very good.....It is also one of my options.
demianm OP
18 posts
 
The cambridge 840C is also one of the options I had considered, I have both a better CD player than the Rotel and a "seemingly very good" DAC looking at the specs, the chipset used and the fact that it also upsamples the signal. Considering the selling price of my almost new Rotel, it would be a very little amount of money to get an used 840C, maybe 500 bucks. To get a good DAC I am looking at 1000 bucks and still will have a "questionable" CD transport, so I am looking at 1000 bucks for the DAC and and possible CD transport change. Now it´s where the rule of diminishing returns hits me hard in the head and I question how much of a difference could I notice between the 840C and a transport with a DAC such as the benchmark or the wyred4sound one.....

Some people have pointed out that the 840C is a little thin sounding, but I also plan to experiment with a tube buffer, last week I ordered the Grant B283 MKII buffer just for kicks (to use it between the CD player or the DAC, whateven I should choose)

On the other hand, I am thinking that for only 500-600 bucks I could upgrade my Rotel in the meantime, use the 840C as standalone player and later get a better DAC and use the 840C 24bit upsampled output to the new DAC.....does this sound reasonable?
demianm OP
18 posts
 
Knownothing,

Did you hear the 840C? I dont know if it is really thin, I just read that from some other review but also doubt it sounds "thin" considering the great reviews for it.

I could listen to it, but the dealers where I´ve seen it do not have a good listening room to really be able to notice any difference, it´s like listening to it at bestbuy, no good at all. I´d rather jump into the pool and listen to it at home.....
demianm OP
18 posts
 
Knownothing,

Which other CD player except the Raysonic would you recommend at this price point ($1000)?

Does anyone happen to know if it is possible to use the 840C with both outputs (unbalanced and balanced) wired to the amp? I would like to be able to stuff my tube buffer in between the amp and CD/DAC to be able to improve the sound of MP3 playback, but use the balanced output for regular CD playing.
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