Stand alone dac vs built in dac what's the better

My DAC (DACmagic) has a couple of inputs and it really improved what I hear from my old Marantz CD changer (well made thing that refuses to die). I've A/Bd it with the iTunes lossless signal sent to my Squeezebox Touch and on to the DAC and it sounds identical using similar AQ coax cables (VDM5, VDM3). It's also nice to know there are inexpensive things you'll feel less guilty about improving along the way.

Very open ended question...guess it really dependppos on the initial quality and age of your equipment...an older cd player, especially an entry or midfi
one...could possibly benefit from an external dac...however...in my experience...the additional cost of a dac and cables didnt justify the cost...at least in a cd based system...in which technology hit a ceiling years ago...so the real future is hi rez downloads...pc media...where a hi quality dac might be beneficial

Thanks for all of you guys input

Phasecorrect said,,, " At least in a cd based system... in which technology hit a ceiling years ago ". LOL, guess he hasn't tried a high end CD player made in the last few years. I have and there's been a world of improvements in the last three years.

What Tmsorosk said about "keeping the noise away..." is the main reason to ditch the CD transport or CD player alltogether. A LINN DS unit will simply trash most CD players under $15k on the planet. I have heard it. Use DbPoweramp to rip your exisintg CDs into a NAS and use the DS with an iPad to access your entire library. Could not get any easier.