Cd Player/ Dac Help Please

[admin_exported]

Hello all,

I have recently purchased a linn wakonda to go with my Linn av5105 power amp and tdl rtl3 se loudspeakers. So the next thing is a new cd player.

I currently use my Cambridge audio 540d (yes the dvd player). I have been looking around and the marantz cd6003 looks good. However have also been looking at dacs. I could get a dac but would i also need a new transport for it to exceed the performance of the cd6003?? I was looking at a Cambridge dac magic or a little dot dac1.

I am always open to the second hand option , in this case I’m not completely sure I would get better performance than buying new kit.Some of the stuff i was looking at were the linn cd players. Specifically the genki as i have been advised older players are coming to the end of their serviceable life.

Any suggestions or ideas would be appreciated.
Cheers all

 

[eternaloptimist]

Hi,

While I think CDs will be around for a while, I think I would be investing the money entirely in a quality DAC rather than spreading the funds across both a CD transport and DAC. CDs can be ripped to FLAC with Exact Audio Copy or dBpoweramp (for example), played with J River MC 15 (for example) directly into many new DACs and if careful, can be a much better (and cheaper for the cost) transport than any "real time" CD optical reader, with the convenience of library management etc. Remember, a CD transport just reads the 1s and 0s on the fly, nothing more, before feeding this to the internal or, if present, external DAC. A PC / laptop if setup correctly can easily match this. I am obviously biased as this is the approach I now take! I won't be buying another CDP...

For example, if you have $USD1000, I would spend all on a Wyred-4-Sound DAC-1 rather than a DAC-magic and CDP / transport "X".There is a significant law of diminshing returns with DACs over $USD2000 but there is quite a jump in quality between $500 and $1000.

 

[Anonymous]

humm, cheers for the reply. Using flac/something like that would mean having a running pc in the listening room?? I think i would find that distracting, in particular the fan noise. However i can see why this method would be advantageous over a cd player acting as a transport.I have been reading about sacd and to me it does seem like an improvement on redbook cd. Reading some of the stuff on headfi people are in debate about the topic (9 pages in the sound science forum).

If i wanted sacd and good cd playback I can see these as two of the most immediate options.

1. The new sony scd xe800 with an external dac. I think I will have to stick to cheaper sub £300 dac's (not all made of money). This would give me sacd playback of ???? quality and a good cd playback with the aid of the dac.

2. The pioneer pd d6 mk2 seems to do all the above in one box. But why dont many shops sell them , richersounds have limited stock at some stores (not in Leeds where I live)and superfi have none left (in leeds or online).Apparently its not a standard stock item.

I am aware of the limited library of sacd's but I remember listening to pink floyd's dark side of the moon and been impressed. I like pink Floyd and Fleetwood mac , both of which are available on sacd.

I suppose my main question is if cd players in the sub £400 category (in particular the pioneer pd d6 mk2) ,can match the performance from a cheaper transport and an external dac, for arguments sake say the Cambridge dac magic as I have a feeling people are most familiar with this dac.

cheers all