Which cd/dv mega changer using an outboard DAC?

Chantaipan,

My wife and I love mega changers.

I found the Sony ES mega changer sounds better than the non-ES changer, I found the sound to be much fuller.

I like the Sony because I have never had a Sony product go bad on me, it holds 400 discs with title display, and it works with Slik-e (an amazing litle toy!) so we have instant access to every single track.

Using One DIP with the ES improves the sound nicely.

The non-ES changer benefits the most from two DIP's, with the first DIP improving sound substantially.

I used damping material on the outside of the changer. I was surprised how much it helped. So much so that I ended up covereing most of the sides/top. Damping around the 'hump' on the ES had the greatest impact.

Whish I'd done the bottom before I filled it with disks!

Next, I will see about the power cord. Don't want to open the thing up, so maybe some ferrite rings or some shielding on the cord. I have it plugged into a Versa Woodblock, but that didn't seem to help much. It will (eventually) get it's own dedicated power line. AFter that, time to experiment with isolation and mass.

I'd love to hear from other mega changer users and what you've done to improve the sound.

KP

The DIP will take the toslink and let you send it out as coax or balanced (while it cleans up some jitter).

KP

Chantaipan, welcome to the madhouse! It would be an addiction if it wasn't so rewarding!

The DIP is a small box made by Monarchy audio. They can be found for sale regularly on this site, since they are very popular. You can also buy it new from Audio Advisor, and try it for 30 days.

It takes digital coax/toslink signal and re-clocks it removing quite a bit of jitter (a huge topic, with tons of info; some people on the net will tell you jitter is inaudible, but I don't think anyone on this forum will say that.)

It then allows you to output coax or balanced digital to your DAC.

If you get a used one, get at least the MkII DIP.
The new ones are 24/96 (note that the MkII only 16/44, but this is fine for CD's) so they can also be used on DID players for HT (DD, DTS). I have one of each, they both seem to work about the same for CD's. Changing the power on it improve the sound a bit as well.

I also recommend (for mega changer users) the Slink-e device. This let's you control your changer from your computer. It'll scan the player for you, get all the album/track info from the net, and let you create playlists, search for songs, and what not. But it only works with Sony S-link connections.

KP

The DIP should help most dvd/cd players going to a DAC.
You might want to get it from AA where you can return it if you don't like it.

As far as DVD vs CD sounding better, it depends. I thought all my DVD players (using coax) sounder better (player-->DAC) than the regular Sony mega box (toslink).

However, with the setup (player--->DIP(s)--->DAC) they all sounded very similar.

The ES mega box (toslink) sounder better than any of the DVD players I tried (Sony, Toshiba, and I forgot the other one).

I know some DAC manufactures (BelCanto, for one) suggest you use a DVD player with Toslink going into the DAC. I can't comment on this from personal experience but user comments on this idea suggest that coax to DAC is better.

Also, the DVD w/o a DIP may sound better because DVD's have an output buffer (16k, I think, please correct me), that's supposed to reduce jitter. Once the DIP is in place, it should take care of most of the jitter issues. So, that would explain why the DVD players and the regular Sony sounded similar with the DIP in use.

KP

My pleasure, I love the mega box changers because you get to listen to so much music!
I'll post the results of any other tricks that improve the sound.

KP

Yep, music, and tons of it. That's the whole idea (to me, anyway).

KP

OK, latest experience here:
Switched amp from Spectron to Rogue 120 Magnums. Now 2 DIP's sound better.
I imagine that, since the M120's are far more detailed, jitter reduction becomes noticeable.

KP