DAC + Lossless better than CDP, why?

chebby

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Jun 2, 2008
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Assuming a CDP has a well sorted DAC and decent transport then why do so many people credit lossless music file replay through a stand-alone DAC as being better?

My non-experienced (until my DAC arrives) thinking and received 'wisdom' on this is as follows...

1) No mechanical transport, box etc. to pick up mechanical and airborne vibration from the CD player and the surroundings/speakers.

2) Error correction already done (when file was ripped) whereas CDP has to do it 'on the fly' in real time.

3) Bit perfect stream of data.

4) No troublesome timing/jitter issues.

5) Upsampling by external DAC? (Although I thought most decent CDPs already have this as well.)

Anything alse I have missed?

I have tried to explain all this (badly probably) to a friend who wants to know if his iMac/iTunes + Apple lossless ripped CDs + DacMagic will sound better than his Rega Apollo through his Primare i30/JM Focal 716 system.

I have - very rashly - told him it should (in theory) sound better especially as he can utilise direct optical connection from the iMac and balanced connections betwixt DacMagic and Primare i30. (His Apollo CDP does not have balanced connections.)

Next question from him (I could not answer this) was.. 'will a direct optical connection from the DacMagic to the Apollo CDP sound better than lossless files from the iMac'?

Ideally he would like to sell the Apollo and put his CDs in storage if the quality was better but both of us have our doubts about whether the Apollo + DacMagic + balanced connects may actually 'trump' the lot!

Any thoughts?

Thanks
 
A

Anonymous

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Your theory is the basis of the Naim HDX, which has proven that a well ripped cd does indeed perform better than it's CDP counterpart. However a £4500 machine compared to an iMac plus DacMagic may not provide the same differences, yet there is no reason to suggest that the sound would be comparible to the Apollo. My experience of the DacMagic suggests that it really does inhance CDP's which are around over 5 years old but I feel that spending £200 and replacing the Apollo may not be the best decision. Maybe suggest borrowing one from your local dealer first??

ÿ

Cheersÿ
 

chebby

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A little further research shows that both Rega Apollo and CA Dacmagic use Wolfson WM8740 24bit DACs with differential outputs so that levels the 'playing field' somewhat.

Given that CA is Richer Sound's 'own brand', I guess my friend is going to have to find out if our local RS have a generous 'return it if you don't like it' policy.
 

chebby

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In fact these Wolfson WM8740 24bit DACs get everywhere! Just found out that my own Arcam Solo-Mini (and their CD73) use them also.

Apparently they cost £3.49 each. (£2.99 each if you order 1000) $8 in the USA.

Hmmm no wonder they are so ubiquitous. (Where's my soldering iron?)
 

Tony_R

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chebby, I think one of the other theories surrounding the playback of lossless files vs the CD player is that most computer CDROM mechanisms have far better error correction that the mechanism in most CD players.

However, this may be negated somewhat by the ever increasing use of DVD ROM mechanisms in CD players.

But I think the PC is still superior due to the disc being read multiple times and at much higher speed (I believe).

This then makes for far more accurate reading and the bit retrieval rate much higher..

Right, I'll stop babbling now and go back to my nicely cushioned room..
emotion-2.gif


Tony.
 

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