I am very new to Hi-fi systems and need some advice. I have purchased a NAD C355 Amp and Monetor audio BR2s speakers. I don't have many CDs and have some tracks via I -tunes. I want to increase my music collection but don't whether to buy a CD player or a DAC? I have been hearing a lot about DACs however I am not too sure how they work and how easy they are to set up or use.
CD Player or DAC?
- Thread starter admin_exported
- Start date
why are you thinking about a DAC? you need a CD player or a transport in order to use one fully, and atm you have neither, so there lies the answer;-)
chebby
Well-known member
clivej:why are you thinking about a DAC? you need a CD player or a transport in order to use one fully, and atm you have neither, so there lies the answer;-)
Eh?
Why do you have to have a CD player to fully use a DAC?
In many instances lossless music from a PC or Mac via a good DAC sounds at least as good as a CD player.
It is misleading - to someone new to the whole idea of using a DAC - to state (wrongly) that one can only use them with CD players.
Eh?
Why do you have to have a CD player to fully use a DAC?
In many instances lossless music from a PC or Mac via a good DAC sounds at least as good as a CD player.
It is misleading - to someone new to the whole idea of using a DAC - to state (wrongly) that one can only use them with CD players.
chebby
Well-known member
daydreamer:
I am very new to Hi-fi systems and need some advice. I have purchased a NAD C355 Amp and Monetor audio BR2s speakers. I don't have many CDs and have some tracks via I -tunes. I want to increase my music collection but don't whether to buy a CD player or a DAC? I have been hearing a lot about DACs however I am not too sure how they work and how easy they are to set up or use.
A DAC connected with USB (or optical if your computer is equipped) to your Mac or PC will become the default 'soundcard' instead of the built-in one. A good external DAC is most likely to be a whole order of magnitude better in sound quality than the the usual sound-cards found in computers.
Plug the DAC into the computer with USB (or optical) and plug the analogue (RCA phono usually) outputs from the DAC into your amplifier like any other source.
Crank up iTunes or WMP or whatever you use (preferably with lossless files for best quality) and play music. Very simple.
Obviously you can play youtube and internet radio, BBC iPlayer etc through the same DAC as well.
I am very new to Hi-fi systems and need some advice. I have purchased a NAD C355 Amp and Monetor audio BR2s speakers. I don't have many CDs and have some tracks via I -tunes. I want to increase my music collection but don't whether to buy a CD player or a DAC? I have been hearing a lot about DACs however I am not too sure how they work and how easy they are to set up or use.
A DAC connected with USB (or optical if your computer is equipped) to your Mac or PC will become the default 'soundcard' instead of the built-in one. A good external DAC is most likely to be a whole order of magnitude better in sound quality than the the usual sound-cards found in computers.
Plug the DAC into the computer with USB (or optical) and plug the analogue (RCA phono usually) outputs from the DAC into your amplifier like any other source.
Crank up iTunes or WMP or whatever you use (preferably with lossless files for best quality) and play music. Very simple.
Obviously you can play youtube and internet radio, BBC iPlayer etc through the same DAC as well.
I assume you have a PC or Mac already if you have iTunes.
Get a DAC - but research to see which one suits your needs - I use a DACMagic from Cambridge Audio @£200, but there are others like Beresford (cheaper at just over £100 I think) or more expensive ones going up to thousands of pounds.
Connect DAC to Amp via normal phono plugs, connect DAC to computer via co-Axial plug or USB or optical lead depending on which computer you have and which DAC you choose. Start iTunes, stream music to DAC -> Amp. That is it!
If your PC/Mac is too far to connect to DAC via leads, get Apple Airport Express (£65) which will connect with iTunes wirelessly (assuming you have WIFI network at home), -> connect Airport Express to DAC via optical lead (no USB).
Get a second Express and you can steam to that too in another room.
I have a CD player costing £1000 about 10 years ago and I cannot really tell the difference between that and the iTunes/DAC combination, BUT that is because I play Apple Lossless music files from iTunes. If you buy CDs, you can rip them into iTunes losslessly or download music from iTunes but keep the bitrate higher at 256.
If you have iPod Touch or iPhone, you can use that a remote control to control the music. Pretty cool.
Lots of info here and you may not understand all of it if you are new to the DAC game but be patient... I managed to set everything up from scratch and very happy bunny! And I am certainly not going to buy another CD player again.
Get a DAC - but research to see which one suits your needs - I use a DACMagic from Cambridge Audio @£200, but there are others like Beresford (cheaper at just over £100 I think) or more expensive ones going up to thousands of pounds.
Connect DAC to Amp via normal phono plugs, connect DAC to computer via co-Axial plug or USB or optical lead depending on which computer you have and which DAC you choose. Start iTunes, stream music to DAC -> Amp. That is it!
If your PC/Mac is too far to connect to DAC via leads, get Apple Airport Express (£65) which will connect with iTunes wirelessly (assuming you have WIFI network at home), -> connect Airport Express to DAC via optical lead (no USB).
Get a second Express and you can steam to that too in another room.
I have a CD player costing £1000 about 10 years ago and I cannot really tell the difference between that and the iTunes/DAC combination, BUT that is because I play Apple Lossless music files from iTunes. If you buy CDs, you can rip them into iTunes losslessly or download music from iTunes but keep the bitrate higher at 256.
If you have iPod Touch or iPhone, you can use that a remote control to control the music. Pretty cool.
Lots of info here and you may not understand all of it if you are new to the DAC game but be patient... I managed to set everything up from scratch and very happy bunny! And I am certainly not going to buy another CD player again.
Alec
Well-known member
chebby:clivej:why are you thinking about a DAC? you need a CD player or a transport in order to use one fully, and atm you have neither, so there lies the answer;-) Eh? Why do you have to have a CD player to fully use a DAC? In many instances lossless music from a PC or Mac via a good DAC sounds at least as good as a CD player. It is misleading - to someone new to the whole idea of using a DAC - to state (wrongly) that one can only use them with CD players.
clivej did say "or transport", and the OP eveidently has a computer, and could therefore be up and running with just a usb DAC, subject to connecting it all.
OP - I think it depends how you want to listen to music whether you choose to get a CDP. i use my pc and cant see myself ever using a cdp as i like having so much music at my disposal without going back and forth with CDs all the time.
you may choose a cdp and a dac, of course, but others will be better able to tell you whether its worth getting a dac with a cdp, and of what standard/price point.
clivej did say "or transport", and the OP eveidently has a computer, and could therefore be up and running with just a usb DAC, subject to connecting it all.
OP - I think it depends how you want to listen to music whether you choose to get a CDP. i use my pc and cant see myself ever using a cdp as i like having so much music at my disposal without going back and forth with CDs all the time.
you may choose a cdp and a dac, of course, but others will be better able to tell you whether its worth getting a dac with a cdp, and of what standard/price point.
daydreamer:
I am very new to Hi-fi systems and need some advice. I have purchased a NAD C355 Amp and Monetor audio BR2s speakers. I don't have many CDs and have some tracks via I -tunes. I want to increase my music collection but don't whether to buy a CD player or a DAC? I have been hearing a lot about DACs however I am not too sure how they work and how easy they areÿto set up or use.ÿ
All CD players have an internal DAC (digital to analogue converter), an external DAC is basically a CD player without the transport mechanism. CD players with a digital out can be improved by adding an improved DAC but a more common use of an external DAC is to hook it up to a computer.
The are no harder to hook up or use than a CD player, if you intend to use it with a computer you'll need to make sure it has a digital (S/PDIF) out - which is sometimes incorporated in the headphone socket. Dependent on which DAC you buy, some also have a USB input too so you can bypass the computers sound card altogether. For instance the Beresford only has optical and co-axial connections whilst the Cambridge DacMagic has optical, co-axial and USB.
You can use your computer to rip any CDs you get to your hard drive and if you mainly intend to download music the DAC route is definitely the way to go. Don't forget the higher the bit rate of the rip the better sound you will get so if you want to make the most of your set up, lossless rips are the way to go but unfortunately take up more HDD space than lossy formats such as MP3, AAC e.t.c. so at some point you will need to invest in storage space capable of holding your collection.
The two DACs I have mentioned are an ideal place to start if you are interested. WHF have conducted reviews on both which are in the CD player section in the reviews on this site. Hope this helps.ÿ
I am very new to Hi-fi systems and need some advice. I have purchased a NAD C355 Amp and Monetor audio BR2s speakers. I don't have many CDs and have some tracks via I -tunes. I want to increase my music collection but don't whether to buy a CD player or a DAC? I have been hearing a lot about DACs however I am not too sure how they work and how easy they areÿto set up or use.ÿ
All CD players have an internal DAC (digital to analogue converter), an external DAC is basically a CD player without the transport mechanism. CD players with a digital out can be improved by adding an improved DAC but a more common use of an external DAC is to hook it up to a computer.
The are no harder to hook up or use than a CD player, if you intend to use it with a computer you'll need to make sure it has a digital (S/PDIF) out - which is sometimes incorporated in the headphone socket. Dependent on which DAC you buy, some also have a USB input too so you can bypass the computers sound card altogether. For instance the Beresford only has optical and co-axial connections whilst the Cambridge DacMagic has optical, co-axial and USB.
You can use your computer to rip any CDs you get to your hard drive and if you mainly intend to download music the DAC route is definitely the way to go. Don't forget the higher the bit rate of the rip the better sound you will get so if you want to make the most of your set up, lossless rips are the way to go but unfortunately take up more HDD space than lossy formats such as MP3, AAC e.t.c. so at some point you will need to invest in storage space capable of holding your collection.
The two DACs I have mentioned are an ideal place to start if you are interested. WHF have conducted reviews on both which are in the CD player section in the reviews on this site. Hope this helps.ÿ
Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. I have lots of advice to go with and feel a whole lot better aboutit now.
I run a CA DacMagic via optical from the PC. The USB connection is inferior to optical, it can only be run at 48kHz (maximum playback frequency) and 16bit (amount of information); where-as via optical it can run at 24bit/96kHz. CD's are only 44.1kHz, 16bit, but forcing 24/96 seems to make a tangible difference to the sound quality. I'm not sure if the computer is upsampling, as well as the DAC.
Similar threads
TRENDING THREADS
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Is hi-fi really getting better? Our technical editor ponders its progression- Started by What Hi-Fi?
- Replies: 19
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram