2. digital
  3. 132046-13640

Please Recommend Transport + DAC for $5K total

My current Jolida cdp is growing pretty long in the tooth. I could just replace it with another cdp, but it seems more prudent to go with separate transport and DAC, at this point. Would prefer gear made in N. America. Total expenditure not to exceed 5K. I'm considering Sim Audio Moon 260CD or Bryston BDP-3 as a transport. The thing is, I prefer the option of demoing at home and I haven't (so far) found any vendors offering that option with the Sim Audio piece. As for a DAC, same thing: it has to be something I can try out at home, like a Schiit Yggy or Benchmark DAC2HGC. Can anyone suggest other possibilities, given these parameters? My system: Wells Audio Majestic Integrated, Silverline 17.5 monitors, JD100 cdp. Speaker wire: Audio Art SE. Power cables: Audio Art Statement. IC's: Audioquest Cheetah.  Thanks! 
stuartk

Showing 3 responses by melm

melm
1,085 posts
 
@auxinput

The LKS 004 uses a Crystek CCHD-575 femtoclock on its main board and two Crystek CCHD-957 femtoclocks on the upgraded Amanero USB to I2S board. The results using ripped SACDs sent to the USB from a hard drive through a lap-top are superb, beyond any digital I have ever heard. (I’ve been principally into analog.)

I have been using an Oppo 105 to play CDs through the LKS using spdif. The results have been very good, very clearly better than the 105 by itself. But on the basis of what you write, I’ll try ripping some CDs, send them in through the USB and do some comparisons. Is there a reasonably priced CD player you recommend?

Owning the LKS is a bit of an adventure. But support from users and from the factory has been very good, and the value is impressive.
melm
1,085 posts
 
@auxinput

I'm experimenting ripping some CDs and sending them through the Amanero USB to I2S board to the LKS.  The results are very promising.  But I want to do more before I conclude it's not wishful thinking.  But after all, the board is there precisely to re-clock the incoming data (twice?) and seems to work wonderfully for the DSD out of my laptop.  And as I eventually want to rip all my CDs to the hard disk, this seems to be the way to go--rather that with a transport.

Now I'm discovering that people are converting the CDs to DSD, as high as DSD512 (using a lot of storage) and sending the files through the board to the LKS with great success.  More experiments to do.
melm
1,085 posts
 
@auxinput

Interesting.  I had a look at the Pink Faun and at the TNT review.  You have to wonder why, though, it hasn't found much favor though it's been around for several years.  I think that perhaps it may have been the recent and rapid improvement of USB to I2S converters like the Singxer SU-1 and the LKS USB-100 (the latter being the same circuit as in the upgraded LKS 004).  Both of these accommodate DSD and PCM and have received wide acceptance, and can be used with lap-tops.  Also, do you know why PF charges a premium for the LKS version?  Isn't it just a matter of making up the cable (HDMI to HDMI, or HDMI to RJ45) to accommodate?

Looking at the Pink Faun lit. they make a great deal of the file to USB within the computer as though it's some sort of massive "conversion" which I think is really overstated.

In any event you might want to consider whether doing without DSD (in native form) when running the LKS is a good idea.  I have had a lot of success with SACD rips (especially "pure DSD" from analog originals) and at least one correspondent at the Asylum writes, " With DSD512 [using HQPlayer to upsample from red book] the LKS sounds like an analog rig".  Though upsampling rb all the way to DSD512 seems like a mighty stretch.

Of course, as usual, YMMV.
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