could a dac improve my system ??

[admin_exported]

i havent got a clue about them really , but i know i can get a vdac for e150 , not alot of money if it gave a nice boost in quality to my sound , i have as in my sig , marantz cd6003 and pm6003 , could i incorporate a dac in between these ? do i need to seeing as theres obviously already a dac of some sort in my cdp ? just wondering really , my system sounds great as it is , but if a dac could improve it , well......

thanks....

 

[smuggs]

max if u have a laptop/ipod or something along them lines it would be ace but if u are happy loading cds that it be a change in sound to what you have but maybe not much improvement. You have to ask yourself how much of the cost of the dac inside your cd player is it say the player is £300 you would think the dac cant be more than £100's worth so a standalone dac of £150 should be close to a £350-£500 cd player in SQ terms. In the computer based forum area there are loads of info good luck

 

[John Duncan]

I wouldn't bother tbh...

 

[Craig M.]

wait for the audiolab one, if it ever comes out...

double your budget at least, i would've thought, but could be a world beater given the guy apparently designing it.

 

[Anonymous]

interesting craig , tbh im going to buy a higher specced amp sometime in the future anyway so spending £300 on a dac may not make sense .. ill look at marantz gear when the time comes too .. very impressed with the cd6003 , if a cheap dac isnt gonna give any improvement over that ill happily stick with it for a while

not into computer based music smuggs/jd , so i can see that a dac may not be warranted for me then , at least i know now , cheers

 

[SonofSun]

maxflinn:
i havent got a clue about them really , but i know i can get a vdac for e150 , not alot of money if it gave a nice boost in quality to my sound , i have as in my sig , marantz cd6003 and pm6003 , could i incorporate a dac in between these ? do i need to seeing as theres obviously already a dac of some sort in my cdp ? just wondering really , my system sounds great as it is , but if a dac could improve it , well......

thanks....

The upgrade bug is already biting, this could be an expensive hobby for you my friend. If you are going to change the amp, 2nd hand may be a better route. If you stick with the right brands you can always get your money back.

 

[Anonymous]

to be honest sonofsun , my changing to the pm6003 from my nad was meant to be experimental really , it was a straight swap , cost me nothing , i wasnt happy with the boomy bass from the nad c326bee that i had ..

i figured id try out a different sound , in my setup and room , just to gain a new perspective , with a view to upgrading the marantz in a few months to a £500-£900 amp that would really bring out the best in my speakers ..

but , i wasnt expecting the marantz to be so good , im very surprised at how much better it is than the nad (well imo anyway and with my tastes and in my room) , whfi have hinted in their review of it that another award is on the cards this year , they say its the best sub £500 amp..

well i certainly can see why , its brilliant , lovely smooth sound , big wide soundstage , enough bass , no harshness , bags of detail etc ,so im actually wondering what id have to buy to better it really , this thread is only born out of curiosity really , and if a e150 dac could improve on the great sound im currently enjoying then id look into it , but judging from the answers it seems not..

so , turning into an expensive hobby ? it already has

.. but its a great hobby

 

[Blackdawn]

If you want to get a DAC to upgrade the sound of the Marantz CDP your need something a lot better than the V-Dac. I've previously read on the forum in the past the V-Dac was a downgrade from even the CA 340C. You need to try something like the Benchmark DAC1 to get a proper improvement. Therefore you may as well upgrdade the CDP instead unless you play music a lot from the computer or similar source.

 

[Anonymous]

cheers blackdawn , yes thats the conclusion ive come to , no point in a dac ...

ill consider an amp upgrade in time , i may even keep the pm6003 its that good

 

[Anonymous]

Hmm, very interesting this one guys, if a dac is made to do only one thing to its best ability then i too am a bit curious, so do you think a dac would improve my system even though when i bought the cdp 7 years ago it retailed for £1250.

 

[Anonymous]

interesting point johnny , 7 years is a long time in the world of tech , i wonder what a £300-£400 dac might do for your cdp ?

 

[drummerman]

smuggs:max if u have a laptop/ipod or something along them lines it would be ace but if u are happy loading cds that it be a change in sound to what you have but maybe not much improvement. You have to ask yourself how much of the cost of the dac inside your cd player is it say the player is £300 you would think the dac cant be more than £100's worth so a standalone dac of £150 should be close to a £350-£500 cd player in SQ terms. In the computer based forum area there are loads of info good luck

A current top spec Dac board is around £5.00, no matter if it is used in a £2k linn player or something more reasonable from Cambridge Audio.

 

[Anonymous]

a good £1200 cdp bought 7 years ago will still be a good cdp now you would have to spend a fair bit on a dac to improve the sound imo

 

[SteveR750]

I'm thinking of getting one for the laptop. I want one at least as good as the one in the Cyrus 6SE, what are the options? I would probably want to upgrade proof it, so it should be capable of doing justice to an 8SE / XTe transport level. I would use it initially for laptop lossless and spotify, and also for the Humax box.

 

[Anonymous]

i think you would need at least a dacmagic probably better the dac in my touch isnt bad but not a patch on my arcam cdp

 

[SteveR750]

I'd be surprised if the DAC Magic s as good as the basic Cyrus one, let alone the QX version, but am not prepared to pay the grand or so for a Beresford. It would be more helpful if WHF had more levels of best buys, the price jumps are IMO too wide making the filtering more difficult as there are excellent pieces of kit that fall off the radar; there is more than just Cyrus out there in electronics.

 

[Anonymous]

i agree at some point i will add a dac to my touch but after the £300 mark there isnt much in the way of reviews about

 

[SteveR750]

There is an ebay seller offering upgrades to the dacmagic. any good or a pee take?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cambridge-Audio-Dacmagic-Azur-Level-2-upgrade_W0QQitemZ280410338795QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=&rvr_id=&cguid=0d4b8fb61280a0aad28360b3ff918c82#ht_1636wt_952