Arcam rDAC + NAD C525 CD vs NAD C525 alone?

[admin_exported]

Does anyone have any experience of upgrading CD players by adding a DAC?

The rest of the sistem: The Epos Elan 30, Creek Evolution 2 amp...

Any comment appreciated.

 

[stevebrock]

I think you would need to spend a bit more to make any improvement IMHO

Have you a budget in mind? I think you need to be looking around £500

3 main contenders at this price point are the Rega, Audiolab and Musical Fidelity

There are currently other threads regarding this so have a look, and personally it is a great way of upgrading a CDP, your NAD will be a decent enought transport - presumably it has a digital coaxial or optical out?

 

[philipjohnwright]

I politely 🙂 beg to differ based on my own experience of owning an rDac. I'm using it with a Mac Mini front end (running Pure Music), so not a like for like comparison. But it holds its own very nicely with my Ayre AX7e and Harbeth 7/2's. In fact the combination bettered my older Meridian 508 by quite a margin.

That's not to say that the £500 DAC's listed won't do a batter job; I don't know as I haven't tried them. But if you wanted to bridge the gap between them and the rDac then add a lieear power supply to it. I have and it made quite a difference - not night and day but certainly worth the £20 I paid. Yes £20, new, for the VN10L from Maplins (http://www.maplin.co.uk/low-power-multi-voltage-desktop-power-supply-32754). Just make sure you set it to 6V!

I do sometimes use my older Sony Bluray player as a transport into the rDac; have to say that doesn't sound too brilliant on music; bit thin and light on bass. It may be something in the setup; I don't use it often enough to have bothered fiddling with it.

Oh and obviously the other benefit of the rDac is that it has 3 inputs, so more options for the future.

As always best bet would be to try them in situ, hopefully you'll get a dealer who can assist with this.