2. digital
  3. 1058751896

Newbie question on digital source.

I am totally new to hifi world. I am gradually building my system. I bought the NHT 3.3 speakers and a Aragon 8008 MkII amp. I am searching a preamp which I got a lot of recommendations.

Now for digital source, a friend recommend me the Sony DVP-S7000, which is cheap for used. But seems no one is using it in their hifi system. I am thinking about the Perpetual P3A to be used as DAC. But seems I still need to spend some money on a good CD player as transport. I have a technical question regarding this:

Does CD transport matter? My understanding is that, evey the cheapest DVD player has a coax or optical (toslink) output and send PCM signal which is pure digital to DAC. So why I need to spend a lot of money on CD transport?

Could you guys recommend some reliable used CD players or CD/DAC combination? I am thinking about DVD player with optical output and a P3A DAC. Is it good enough to match my system? My budget is up to $500.

Thanks,
Roy
roy2001

Showing 3 responses by roy2001

roy2001 OP
32 posts
 
Hi guys,

Sorry for type. My budget is around $500, not limited to $500. I want to spend $1500 on preamp and digital source.

Will spend some time to absorb all your inputs.

Thanks.
Roy
roy2001 OP
32 posts
 
Ejliu,

That's a interesting approach. If you already have a PC, then I believe a 200GB HD is definitely cheaper than a good CD transport. Plus, every CD/DVD ROM today have a direct digital output, I will try to connect it directly to my receiver as PCM source to see what will happen :) All I need is to have a ATX power supply to connect to it. If it can function as a transport, wow! I have a bunch of CD writers.

But I would like to get the answer from technical point of view. From optical or coax output, all the signal should be the same. Ipy mentioned the timing issue. But as an electical engineer (sorry I only play with IC, not tubes), I can hardly believe that.

Thanks.
Roy
roy2001 OP
32 posts
 
UPDATE:

System is singing: Generic DVD player -> Theta Basic II DAC -> ARC LS-15 tube pre -> Aragon 8008 -> NHT 3.3.

Sound is warm and laid back, no forward and bright at all (some guys complain about NHT speakers).

I might settle down on SONY S7000 DVD player as transport now and save for a good SACD/DVD-A player next year.

Thanks.
Roy
More to discover