Combining CD and DAC - Is this the answer ?

crusaderlord

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I have been toying with an upgrade to my system now for a while mainly looking at a Dock and Dac but have starting to think a bit bigger and better - my latest thought is to upgrade my loved cd player but one with a digital input to take the Onkyo Dock output and use the CD dac.

I have shortlisted 2 good potentials that are built with dac conversion in mind and would be a sound match to the Arcam in sound style :-

Unison Research CD or at a strech the CDE (i have always liked the reviews on this machine)
Musical Fidelity M6CD (a new item release that looks pretty hot)

I will wait until we get some reviews on the MF but if anyone has other options around the £2k mark then they would be of interest (other than Cyrus).

Its always tricky to know what upgrade path would yield the best improvement given i only have budget for one item - cd / amp or speakers and no real space for more boxes. The CD / Digital combination has merits of an upgrade to the CD and Dock in one box which i like. Whether its better than getting new speakers and a cheap v-dac i could hide away im not so sure.
 
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The Marantz SA-KI Pearl limited edition is rather good and has one digital input. Classic Hifi in Kettering has one left (very limited in numbers) and wants £2.2k for it. Quite a good investment for the level of CD quality, SACD and DAC capability. I would describe the sound as very clean, very punchy and detailed. I guess that's the Marantz sound!
 

JoelSim

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I recommend the CDE, lovely sound. I would imagine that the CD is a step below your Arcam though.

Try UKD in Slough, they will know if there are any ex demo's kicking around.

Careful with MF kit though, they are always half price a year after launch which put resale values through the floor. I've also heard a few MF systems and found them wooly compared to Arcs.
 

JoelSim

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By the way, the button on the reverse of the CDE isn't brilliant if you are thinking of using the DAC very often, it's a bit fiddly and I can imagine it breaking with overuse.
 

crusaderlord

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Good suggestions - the CDE would be my favourite but the selection switch i agree isnt the best sadly - i would have certainly preferred a front face button switch as my DAC use switching to and from CD would be see a lot of use.

Might be best to let the amp take the strain after all and set up a wadia or onkyo with a v-dac or maybe spend out a little more on another bespoke dac. Also i am rather fond of my Arcam CD player anyway.

The MF V-DAC i see as very budget friendly and can be easily hidden away and in many places gets a nod over the dacmagic. Lots to think about - hifi can be very difficult to decide on - its probably worse now that i know more about the many options :)
 

crusaderlord

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after a quick family finance discussion i was reminded by my beautiful wife that some kitchen improvements needed doing - and
so a new expensive cd player isnt very likely and i am back to the dac and dock

my current preference is the onkyo digital dock and a musical fidelity v-dac which is probably the best fit in sound to the arcam although the dacmagic is always the award winner - however i have found their cd players bright and am not overly keen to buy their dac as a result

also i can hide the v-dac away which helps the box numbers on show - any comments on the v-dac are appreciated
 
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v-dac is very good underrated in the uk and the sound should be in the same vein as your arcam
 

Gerrardasnails

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crusaderlord:after a quick family finance discussion i was reminded by my beautiful wife that some kitchen improvements needed doing - and
so a new expensive cd player isnt very likely and i am back to the dac and dock

my current preference is the onkyo digital dock and a musical fidelity v-dac which is probably the best fit in sound to the arcam although the dacmagic is always the award winner - however i have found their cd players bright and am not overly keen to buy their dac as a result

also i can hide the v-dac away which helps the box numbers on show - any comments on the v-dac are appreciated

The DacMagic isn't bright at all. It's also very small (I've no idea how small the V-Dac is but the DM would be easy to hide (and has the otion of being placed vertically). Is there anyway you can try them out?
 

crusaderlord

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I can get a demo of the dacmagic - not so sure about the v-dac stockists though. I will have a look around.

Gerrard - I am intersted in your coaxial cable by Clearer Audio - they have great products and i wondered using a relatively inexpensive DAC whether you thought the cost of the Silver Coaxial was worthwhile against a cable under say £50 like QED.
 

Gerrardasnails

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crusaderlord:I can get a demo of the dacmagic - not so sure about the v-dac stockists though. I will have a look around.

Gerrard - I am intersted in your coaxial cable by Clearer Audio - they have great products and i wondered using a relatively inexpensive DAC whether you thought the cost of the Silver Coaxial was worthwhile against a cable under say £50 like QED.

I hear you. As you can see from my cables, I have probably got too expensive for my kit cables. However, I have bought all of them after doing some wheeler dealing on Ebay and got some really good deals. I see it as I don't have to change them when I upgrade next. I got the coaxial for about £70 after making a few quid on buying and selling, after testing some others. I had the QED performance, QED SR, before this one. The Clearer Audio though is superb. I'm probably known as the one that goes on about the DacMagic too much on here. However, I doubt that others have as good XLR and digital cables as me. Maybe I'm getting that bit extra out of it.
 

crusaderlord

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Decision made- whilst i would like the Arcam irdock to replace the older rdock i sold a couple of weeks back i wont be happy until i have tried out a dac.

So i have bought the V-Dac for under £150 from a good dealer who has a 30 day money back offer - so cant really lose out there. I just felt this was the best choice of price / potential sound.

Also i got a new QED Signature 75 digital interconnector for £35 which seemed a decent deal.

Finally will probably plump for the Onkyo dock rather than the Wadia - but the jury is still out on this one.

When all up and running i will give my verdict as compared to my recent memory of the Arcam rdock anyway.
 

Craig M.

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Gerrardasnails:crusaderlord:after a quick family finance discussion i was reminded by my beautiful wife that some kitchen improvements needed doing - and
so a new expensive cd player isnt very likely and i am back to the dac and dock

my current preference is the onkyo digital dock and a musical fidelity v-dac which is probably the best fit in sound to the arcam although the dacmagic is always the award winner - however i have found their cd players bright and am not overly keen to buy their dac as a result

also i can hide the v-dac away which helps the box numbers on show - any comments on the v-dac are appreciated

The DacMagic isn't bright at all. It's also very small (I've no idea how small the V-Dac is but the DM would be easy to hide (and has the otion of being placed vertically). Is there anyway you can try them out?

i know the op has made a decision already, but thought i would add to what gerrardas has said. i wonder if the claims of brightness leveled against the dm are coming from the source in a lot of cases. my mac sounded bright when compared to a cyrus transport, through the cyrus dac. i have my dm on the min filter setting, which i find hides the brightness compared to the linear filter setting. i really wish i had checked the cd xtse through the dacmagic, to see if this got rid of the brightness.
 

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