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Which matters more, DAC or transport?

In my search to better the digital playback of my system I've been lead to look at several DACs to couple with my arcam cd36, and have also considered buying a whole new player like a McIntosh mcd 201 or maybe even a lower end esoteric. My question is: will I get better results using a good DAC (for $2000 to $3000) with my mid-fi transport or with a new player that has a better transport mechanism built in, coupled with what's probably a slightly less sophisticated onboard DAC? Also, what do people think of the Bel Canto DAC3? It's one I've considered. Thanks.
128x128jamiek

Showing 1 response by bombaywalla

bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
The idea of splurging on a DA then buying a cheap transport, is foolish.
well said/written!
Indeed the Transport is more important than the DAC. The DAC is "nothing" without a good signal feed into it AND the axiom garbage in, garbage out holds in spades here.
Think about it: what happens if you have a cost-no-bar DAC, say the dCS DAC or the Esoteric DAC, and you feed it with a BestBuy $40 DVD player used as a transport. What sort of sound can you expect to get??
Will the DAC fill-in for the crappy transport?? If it's lost at the output of the transport, will the DAC bring it back??
No and no!
It's the transport/source.
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