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Separate DAC or continue using the Oppo UDP-205

Hello,

  I have all my music on a hard drive in FLAC.
I am a using Sonos Connect, Optically connected to the Oppo. From the Oppo (RCA'S out) to a Primaluna Dialogue     Preamp. The Amps are 2 Primaluna HP's. Martin Logan Theos speakers. I have rolled mostly all the tubes, and absolutely love the sound. Family and friends also love the sound.

 My question is, Should I continue going through the Oppo, or should I get a separate DAC? Nothing to crazy in price.
I have seen these things go for thousands, and thats fine if you can swing it. I was thinking around a $1000.
But, would it change the sound or would it pretty much be the same? In other words, is the Oppo that good at what it does?

 Since we are always tweaking our systems to make them sound better, I thought I would ask all of you first, before calling the salesman. I also have thought about  getting a turntable. But I gave away all my albums many years ago.
Buying a turntable, buying albums, taking care of all that stuff. Not really what I had in mind. I would like to keep it fun, and simple.

  Thanks
loganfan

Showing 1 response by tweak1

tweak1
3,685 posts
 
+1 to anwar.

A friend brought his laptop over to hear some live recordings he made and to listen to a few songs in his hard drive that I had on cd: that experience totally blew my mind, but Im too old to abandon 3-400 cds
You’re not likely going to like my answer, but here it goes

My dac/pre is a ~ 4 year old model Audio Alchemy DDP-1 dac/pre with PS-5 outboard power supply. I assumed it was a vg dac, and the resultant music sounded quite good, but, like you, Im thinking ’new dac’, however, I upgraded my amp to a EVS 1200 from Ric Schultz/TweakAudio. It took about 80 hours break in before the spooky magic started happening. I now have ~ 100 hours on it.

When the redbook CD recording is good the musicians are in the room comparable to when I had an all tube system; Lector pre and cd player, Rogue M150s with cryoed tubes run fully balanced (had to special  order the Lectors to get fully balanced).

Best of all, it’s only $2200 for 600wpc idle wattage is a low 57watts meaning I can leave it on 24/7, although it has standby toggles which reduce wattage to 1-2 watts, which one would employ if they turn off their tube pre between sessions.

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