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PS Audio DAC iii and Marantz SA 8100 CD Player

My basic question is this: should I route the SA 8001 through the DAC or are the converters within the Marantz good enough to stand on their own? This would only be for playing CDs, I think, since SACDs, as I understand it, can only play through analog .
panagnostos

Showing 2 responses by panagnostos

panagnostos OP
3 posts
 
Dpac996: Hi again: I bought the PS Audio from you! Do you know if the SA 8001 is cable of streaming a Squeezebox? How does the hookup work? Squeeze to Marantz via dig/optical input?
panagnostos OP
3 posts
 
Here's my verdict: not a lot of difference. I am playing Diana Krall on CD two ways: from Marantz going into the PS Audio Dig Link iii DAC via optical and going into a Rega R integrated amp via RCA interconnects. I hear no difference. None. Do I have the best trained ears? No, but I can go pretty quickly between the two Rega line-ins and I hear nada difference. By the way, the PS Audio on test one was upsampling to 96. When I set it to 192, still no real difference. If there is one small noticeable difference, the PS Audio may sound a tad airier. So, here's my next test: go from Apple lossless via Wadia into PS Audio, comparing it to the Marantz directly into Rega via RCA.
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