Greetings from Slovakia

McLenin

Active member
Aug 23, 2020
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Hi all, my name i Martin and I work as an ophthalmologist currently in northern part of Slovakia.

I always wanted to own and listen to good music, and so app. 7 years ago I bought my first kit, which I still own:
HTPC in a nice SilverStone case (yeh I like building PCs too) - used for movies and FLACs connected via optic cable to
Marantz PM6005 which is in turn connected via Xindak cables to a pair of KEF Q 700.

So far I am quite satisfied with this setup, but there is always (in my case very very big) room for improvement.

The upgrade bug bit me hard during this summer, and so I am thinking which part to add. I am torn between a good turntable (e.g. Rega P6) with phono amp, or CD player (no idea here, but probably would prefer transit only with external DAC) in which case, a separate DAC would be first on the upgrade line to complement my Marantz PM 6005 and work from there.

Would really love your opinions on this matter.

All the best

Martin
 

Gray

Well-known member
Hi all, my name i Martin and I work as an ophthalmologist currently in northern part of Slovakia.

I always wanted to own and listen to good music, and so app. 7 years ago I bought my first kit, which I still own:
HTPC in a nice SilverStone case (yeh I like building PCs too) - used for movies and FLACs connected via optic cable to
Marantz PM6005 which is in turn connected via Xindak cables to a pair of KEF Q 700.

So far I am quite satisfied with this setup, but there is always (in my case very very big) room for improvement.

The upgrade bug bit me hard during this summer, and so I am thinking which part to add. I am torn between a good turntable (e.g. Rega P6) with phono amp, or CD player (no idea here, but probably would prefer transit only with external DAC) in which case, a separate DAC would be first on the upgrade line to complement my Marantz PM 6005 and work from there.

Would really love your opinions on this matter.

All the best

Martin
Hello Martin from Slovakia.
Welcome to the WHF forum (and the upgrade bug!).

If you don't currently have records, think carefully before buying a turntable - building a vinyl collection from scratch is likely to be expensive.
The CD transport / DAC option is a good one.
A transport (or any old CD or DVD player) with a coax digital output could feed the spare coax input on your Marantz amp.
A separate DAC could go analogue in to your PM6005 now and would allow you to upgrade to an amp without a built-in DAC if you wanted to in future.

I bought this DAC and can recommend it:
As you like building PCs, you would find it a very simple job to put it in a case.
It's got a coax input - which certainly makes my old CD player sound better.
It's likely to sound better (possibly significantly better) than the DAC in your PM6005 - and you could put your PC through it (either USB or coax).

Don't let me put you off a turntable, I've owned one for decades - but I wouldn't choose to start from scratch with one now.
 

McLenin

Active member
Aug 23, 2020
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25
Visit site
Thank you Gray for your reply. Will certainly look up that DAC and read more about it. Whether to go mental with DAC and CD transport or just add the DAC you recommended and be done with it for a while, now that's the question.

To be honest I was even looking at the Chord Qutest, but wasn't sure if I would hear difference ( not able to try it out around where I live currently) and was contemplating Cambridge audio CXC as the transport to go with the Qutest.... But that might be overkill for the marantz.... So many possibilities and not enough budget.

The sound I have is good for me, but one almost always wants better.

The turntable will have to wait probably. Will look more into making digital sound and conversion better.
 

Gray

Well-known member
Thank you Gray for your reply. Will certainly look up that DAC and read more about it. Whether to go mental with DAC and CD transport or just add the DAC you recommended and be done with it for a while, now that's the question.

To be honest I was even looking at the Chord Qutest, but wasn't sure if I would hear difference ( not able to try it out around where I live currently) and was contemplating Cambridge audio CXC as the transport to go with the Qutest.... But that might be overkill for the marantz.... So many possibilities and not enough budget.

The sound I have is good for me, but one almost always wants better.

The turntable will have to wait probably. Will look more into making digital sound and conversion better.
....just to aid the DAC research:
Easy to look at that Toneboard and think it might be inferior.
But it's what they put inside this (for some reason without the coax input):
Then there's this comparison to another Chord DAC
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj7NQ5EPzls

Always best to take other people's recommendations with a pinch of salt, including mine, but he makes good points about value judgements.
I've found DAC differences to be subtle, certainly up to £600. For the price of the Qutest I'd be looking for some (unlikely) magic over and above what I've got.

Good luck with your choices.
 

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