What’s the best DAC match for the Cambridge Audio CXC original or V2?

jim

speaking for myself only, i cannot hear a difference between the glass toslink (i have 2m wireworld and a 2m lifatec) and a 1.5 m Cullen or Empirical coax... when connecting between various streamers and DACs accepting both options

but i would say, if you are ordering a lifatec glass cable, know that it is relatively fragile (it is thin flexible lightweight minimally jacketed cable), you will need to be careful with it... i believe a good 1.5m rca cable would be more durable

jim - check your digital cable... if it is a coax cable, you should replace it with one that is 1.5 m in length... shorter spdif electrical digital cables may be prone to ’reflections’ of the digital waveform, which can lead to jittery sound (harsh and gritty) - if it an optical cable, get a real glass cable (length not key if it is less than 2-3 meters - https://www.uniqueproductsonline.com/gltodiopca.html or http://www.lifatec.com/toslink2.html - getting the cabling right is good hygiene and will help any transport / dac combo you may upgrade to

i don’t know much about the oppo’s as transports, maybe others here can comment... i suspect it is at least OK

as for dacs, i would suggest mhdt (any model) with a we 2c51 upgraded tube, ayre codex (optical or usb input only), metrum amethyst or neko audio d100-2 -- all are very natural sounding, with warm tonality, excellent bass, treble is smooth, not at all prominent or aggressive

jim

I’m looking for a warm, even sound. What do I mean by even? The Bifrost seems to have its focus 25% on the low end, 60% on the high end and 10% on everything else. I’ve had two other less expensive DAC’s that were only noticeable on the high end.

lets dive into this a bit

my experience with the schiit bifrost (multi bit version) was that it was very midrange/midbass centric... deep bass was rolled off, highs were somewhat laid back but in my system, lower treble had a sibilance which was bothersome to my ear - my streamer and coax digital cable were good ones, am confident it was not jitter creating the sibilance with the bifrost ... for example, i plugged in a schiit gungnir mb -- deep bass was stronger, midrange less forward, mid bass less bloated, treble was more airy but no sibilance - overall a more linear more spacious sound

as you describe the bifrost sound, i would ask if you have the cambridge cdt in hand and your description is of the bifrost being fed by it... or was it by another transport? what input? what cable? what cable length?

hate for you to spend more $ on a supposedly better dac and still have the high end be so prominent still... there may be something more fundamental with your digital front end

do you have another source in your hifi? like a turntable? does that also sound 'treble centric' as you describe the sound of the bifrost?  also, was your bifrost the multi-bit or the plain-jane version?

jim - people are asking you what type of sound are you looking for

all dacs recommend will work fine with your cambridge cdt

there is a leaner. brighter, more 'transparent', rather (good) solid state sounding school of dacs

then there is a more dimensional warmer, fuller more analog school of sound in dac voicing, more tubey if you will (even if they use tubes)

many good dacs in either school

op

a good cd transport will deliver a solid, noise free (electrical noise, not mechanical noise) bitstream to the dac through whichever connection method it provides ... so the notion of ’matching a dac to a transport’ is not super critical if both do their jobs in transmitting and receiving the digital bitstream for conversion - many many good dacs can work suitably well with a decent cd transport

that is why knowledgeable people are asking what are you trying to improve... the dac is the ’voice’ of the digital front end...