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Used DAC or Used CD Player???

Any recommendations on whether to spend about $1500 on a used DAC such as Levinson 36, or just buy a used player like Rega Jupiter--or something like this?

My current player is a marantz cd-63SE, so this would be the transport. Amp is MF A3cr, Preamp is classe cp-35, speakers are platinum solos
platsolos
lazarus28
339 posts
 
i love the jupiter, but i'd get the dac and buy some cd's.
fineberg
151 posts
 
I also have the MF A3cr and tried alot of DACS before finding the Muse 296. It runs $1250-$1500 used, but is absolutely wonderful.
hchg888's avatar
hchg888
10 posts
 
I would get the Levinson 36 Very Good Sound
nti75
29 posts
 
Go with the used DAC. I just purchased a Theta Pro Gen 5a
for $1,300, and it was worth every penny.
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
I have a CD67SE ... on its own it's not a very good transport since there is quite a lot of jitter on the digital out. So if you go the DAC route be sure to either buy a DAC which resamples and reclocks the data stream to remove jitter, or buy a Monarchy DIP or similar to reduce the jitter. I use a Monarchy audio 22A DAC and the DIP made more difference than the DAC on its own, indicating that the CD67/63 sound is more jitter limited than DAC or output stage limited.

In summary I think a CD63SE may not be capable of justifying a $1500 DAC. My DAC and DIP cost $350 together and made a good improvement over the CD67, but the CD67 is still the weak link.
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