2. digital
  3. 1326429460

To DAC or not to DAC

I have somewhat of a dilemma. I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas and had forgotten about it. I just ran across it and have to spend some money. I kind of got all up into doing the digital thing, starting off with a Sonos unit, but I think that I want to run down the road of some quality CD music.

I'm currently running an XDA-1 DAC. Right or wrong, I kind of view it as being a budget solution, but it's doing fine as the converter for my Sonos and Apple TV. My dilemma is whether I should get something along the lines of a decent CD player in the form of a Cambridge Audio 550C and either run that through my XDA-1 or get a better DAC. The second choice would be to get something like the 650C which has dual DACs and just run that straight through the analog outs.

I guess what I'm asking is, will I get better results with the 550C and an external dac or with getting the 650C using its internal DACs.

My next question is whether something like a DacMagic would be an upgrade from the XDA-1, if I go the route of the 550C and external dac. For that matter, would the internal dac of the 550C be better than either the XDA-1 or the DacMagic?

I'm just lost.

Thanks.
tonyangel

Showing 2 responses by kbarkamian

kbarkamian
647 posts
 
Tony,

To get better sound quality than your current DAC, you're going to have to up the budget a good amount, as I'm assuming you just found out. I haven't heard your DAC, but I've heard a lot about it. I've heard the V-DAC and DACMagic many times. At this level, you'll get different, not better. Different can be better matched to your system, ears, etc., but there's going to be tradeoffs like you've mentioned.

If you want a solid improvement without tradeoffs (relative to what you've got), I'd look at the $1k new retail DACs. Used will cost you less than that, but I think you know the usual suspects - Rega, W4S, Eastern Electric, MDHT, etc.
kbarkamian
647 posts
 
Vicdamone,

A lot of people focus on the chip being used - especially if it's an ESS Sabre chip - and asynch. The power supply and output stages are critical in a DAC. I own an old Theta Cobalt DAC that's about 15 years old. Using coax or optical and redbook files, it sounds quite a bit better than these entry level DACs. People keep saying digital gets far better everyday, and I think it's a load of crap. The Theta DAC was a sub $1k DAC back then. The power supply is pretty big for a DAC, and their are no op-amps.

I think the only areas where newer DACs have seperates themselves from the older ones are jitter reduction, high-res capability, and USB input. High-res is gaining more and more titles, but hardly anywhere near contending with redbook. I highly doubt high-res will be mainstream and/or the standard any time soon. People get way too hung up on it.

The budget DACs all have wall wart power supplies and op-amps. IMO it doesn't matter what features/gimmics they have. In the DAC, the digital bits get turned into analog. Just as in amps or CD players, better power supplies and output stages flat out sound better.

No such thing as a free lunch, indeed.
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