Digital output - cheap vs expensive?

[mushroomgod]

Can anyone tell me is the digital signal that comes from an expensive/top end CD player is better than the digital output from a mid range/cheap CD player?

cheers!

 

[johngw]

In this day and age - no.

 

[CnoEvil]

I suppose it depends whether you believe a well sorted transport makes a difference......which I do, but there is by no means consensus on this.

Though I suppose it begs the question why one wouldn't use the DAC in the top end CDP.

 

[johngw]

I suppose it depends whether you believe a well sorted transport makes a difference......which I do, but there is by no means consensus on this.

I guess if the OP is genuinely interested he/she could bring their kitchen Tesco DVD-player to a HiFi dealer and A/B against an upmarket transport feeding into the same DAC. Maybe you should too - just make sure it's unsighted and no cheating!

 

[mushroomgod]

I suppose it depends whether you believe a well sorted transport makes a difference......which I do, but there is by no means consensus on this.

I guess if the OP is genuinely interested he/she could bring their kitchen Tesco DVD-player to a HiFi dealer and A/B against an upmarket transport feeding into the same DAC. Maybe you should too - just make sure it's unsighted and no cheating!

thats not far from the truth 🙂

basicaly I'm upgrading my gear. My (potential) new amp has a high end dac inc, and I was wondering if my £250 Nad CD player is worth upgrading.

 

[CnoEvil]

I suppose it depends whether you believe a well sorted transport makes a difference......which I do, but there is by no means consensus on this.

I guess if the OP is genuinely interested he/she could bring their kitchen Tesco DVD-player to a HiFi dealer and A/B against an upmarket transport feeding into the same DAC.

Exactly so.

 

[johngw]

basicaly I'm upgrading my gear. My (potential) new amp has a high end dac inc, and I was wondering if my £250 Nad CD player is worth upgrading.

As stated already... I think your money is better spent elsewhere but you'll get plenty of conflicting advise on this so you'll have to decide who to trust - or perhaps more importantly - experiment yourself. Just don't buy into something without being certain it brings value.

 

[CnoEvil]

Though coming from different directions, I believe that John and I both agree that you should take nobody's word for this, do your own trial, and spend your money where it brings the most gain.....and that depends on the rest of your system.

 

[davedotco]

basicaly I'm upgrading my gear. My (potential) new amp has a high end dac inc, and I was wondering if my £250 Nad CD player is worth upgrading.

As stated already... I think your money is better spent elsewhere but you'll get plenty of conflicting advise on this so you'll have to decide who to trust - or perhaps more importantly - experiment yourself. Just don't buy into something without being certain it brings value.

This is sound advice.

Like Cno, I have heard transports make a difference, particularly 'real time' players but the differences between competent designs is usually pretty small.

When it is audible, I put it down to the error correction in the player or high levels of (digital) noise or jitter upsetting the receiving dac. A lot of modern players use OEM transports that incorporates a fair amount of electronics, including the error correction. This may help to explain why a lot of modern transports sound very similar indeed.

 

[Overdose]

basicaly I'm upgrading my gear. My (potential) new amp has a high end dac inc, and I was wondering if my £250 Nad CD player is worth upgrading.

If you have the need to buy a disc player, consider a universal one, such as the Oppo 103/105 or the CA 751/2BD. You won't necessarily get better quality if using the optical output, but you will get a heap more functionality and versatility.

Otherwise, spend your money elsewhere, such as on the speakers or maybe a streaming solution if you don't already have one.

 

[CnoEvil]

Otherwise, spend your money elsewhere, such as on the speakers or maybe a streaming solution if you don't already have one.

This is where I would spend my money.

 

[mushroomgod]

Hi guys, cheers for the advice..

the general thought for me is I don't want to upgrade if it offers no benifit, and but the sounds of things th dac in the amp will be better than the dac in my CD player. All things being equal ill probably stick with it.

intresting that you mention streamers - I primarily listen to vinyl and music from my Apple TV (vr 1) and am looking to upgrad that at some point anyway.

 

[Overdose]

Looks like you then have everything covered.

Buy more music in that case. Have you tried any streaming services, such as Spotify?

 

[BigH]

Hi guys, cheers for the advice..

the general thought for me is I don't want to upgrade if it offers no benifit, and but the sounds of things th dac in the amp will be better than the dac in my CD player. All things being equal ill probably stick with it.

intresting that you mention streamers - I primarily listen to vinyl and music from my Apple TV (vr 1) and am looking to upgrad that at some point anyway.

Which amp. are you talking about?

 

[mushroomgod]

Hi guys, cheers for the advice..

the general thought for me is I don't want to upgrade if it offers no benifit, and but the sounds of things th dac in the amp will be better than the dac in my CD player. All things being equal ill probably stick with it.

intresting that you mention streamers - I primarily listen to vinyl and music from my Apple TV (vr 1) and am looking to upgrad that at some point anyway.

Which amp. are you talking about?

At the moment there are two contenders...

Cyrus 8 DAC - which my local dealer has one in as ex demo - perfect condition and sounds perfect (within my speaker/amp budget)

and....

Something a little diffrerent.....The Dynaudio Xeo 5s, which I realise are a totaly different approach but they too have a built in dac (and within my speaker/amp budget....just). Iv not listened to these yet (they just take my fancy). Im will be going to a dealer who stocks them in a couple of weeks....annoyingly tho they are not local.

My other kit is a rega1, mid range Nad cd and a Apple tv (vr1) which I use the phone output as my amp does not have digital in unlike the Cyrus which has just about every imput anyone would ever want!