How would you spend 200 pound?

[DavidNorway]

I recently bought some new kit which im very pleased with however i want to keep building the system.At the moment i use a samsung dvd player that ive had about 2 years not sure of model (80 pounds worth) to play cds and dvds,this connects very well with 60 pound optical cable to the amp,im very pleased with the results.

I also play music from macbook>aiport express>toslink>amp,which sounds very nice too!

I have 200 pound burning a hole in my pocket,what would you buy?

sony bdps370 to play bluyray and cd

Nad c515bee to play only cd

Cambridge cd10 to play only cd

Denon dcd-510ae to play only cd

Im not a huge film buff but love music,not sure if a bluy ray player at this level is any good?

If theres somthing else i should look at please advise!

Any help or opinion would be great

Thanks

 

[Messiah]

What other kit do you have??

 

[DavidNorway]

Messiah:What other kit do you have??

HI,Hegel h70 amp,sa aura30 speakers,project genie 3 turntable and a get hd tv decoder box nordost spellbinder speaker cable

Any thoughts?

 

[Messiah]

Unfortunately I have no experience with those components but I would look to get a DAC like the Beresford Caiman.

 

[DavidNorway]

HI the hegel h70 amp has a built in dac,im looking for a source ie cd or blue ray player.

thanks anyway

 

[drummerman]

DavidNorway:

HI the hegel h70 amp has a built in dac,im looking for a source ie cd or blue ray player.

thanks anyway

Confused. Your present sources all use the amps DAC ... and you're very happy. You mention cdp's and br pl's, which, I assume you would connect in the same way, thus again using the Hegel's DAC which in effect makes whatever you buy just a transport anyhow, no?

On that basis I can only see a Bluray player be of any benefit, if only for the additional format you get.

 

[DavidNorway]

Hi im really not very technical and dont understand your answer?

I thought by spending 200 pound on a cd player i would get a better sound performance than my dvd playing cds?

I dont understand the transport thing

cab some one explain,many thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Jeg hadde valgt bpd-s370 og 515bee neste gang du har cash som brenner hull i lommen din 😉

 

[drummerman]

DavidNorway:

Hi im really not very technical and dont understand your answer?

I thought by spending 200 pound on a cd player i would get a better sound performance than my dvd playing cds?

I dont understand the transport thing

cab some one explain,many thanks

According to yourself, you are connecting your dvd player via optical to your amplifier which has an in-built DAC. This way you are circum-navigating the DAC of the DVD player, using the (probably) superior one of the amplifier. If you buy a dedicated cd player and connect it in the same way, you gain little benefit as you are still using the amps DAC to convert the ones and zeros.

If you'd buy a cd player and connect it via RCA or balanced, if present, the result will probably be different as you are now utilizing the players converter to do the work. Whether the result will be 'better' on one of the lower priced players you've mentioned is not guaranteed and subjective/a matter of taste which only you can decide if it's worth the money.

On the subject of the external DAC someone mentioned, it will enable you again to utilize your DVD player as transport, with the dedicated DAC now doing the number crunching. This way you work around both the amp and dvd players built-in converters. This can add better sound quality, though again, not guaranteed and can give you some more flexibility with regards to digital connections depending on product.

My suggestion of Bluray player will at least give you another format/source, if you need, that.

If not, I'd probably look at some nice streaming device such as a logitech touch as a toy to spend some cash on. Your amplifier and speakers both look interesting but are, as far as I'm aware, not available in this country.

As always, my opinion only.

 

[drummerman]

Plus your choice of equipment and the fact that you already stream music leads me to think that you probably know a little more about the subject than you let on ...

 

[Anonymous]

Hegel is available in the UK but as far as i know it hasnt been tested in any UK mag. They make some great stuff. The H70 is on my wishlist for a third system 🙂

 

[DavidNorway]

Been out diving for some hours so only just reading your thoughts.Thanks for your thoughts and opinions and explaining in more detail,i really know very little on the subject of hi-fi only what ive learnt from this forum,many guys here really talk in a hi-fi language which many times i dont understand.With reference to the equipment i have thats down to a very nice and helpfull guy in a shop,i had never heard of hegl or system audio untill i went in to the shop(soundgarden).What im not100% sure of is if all my diferent things dvd,ae,hd box are actually going through the dac or is it only when you plug the mac in via usb that you get the dac working.This i should ask the shop about but its not close by and my norwigian is not the best on the phone.

Interesting to hear hegel is avalible in the uk,i have done some searching with no luck.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok to clarify ( thought you were norwegian )

The dac in your hegel will ONLY work if you connect your computer to the _USB port_ on the back of the Hegel, not if you use any of the other connections on it.

If you go to the hegel website you will find links to international distributors and the UK is listed with a company that i dont remember the name of right now but its easy enough to find 🙂

 

[DavidNorway]

Hi joestone,im an english man living in Norway (wife is Norsk) have lived here 2 years now,the language is getting better but i hate to speak on the phone as its more difficult.Are you Norwigian? thats very good to know about the dac in the h70,i thought that might be the case.Knowing that if i inderstand all the other tech it means that if i buy a new cd player i will get a better sound?should i use the rca conection or a toslink to the amp.I am very pleased with the h70 just in case your thinking of getting one.

Thanyou for your help,we are not all hi-fi experts on this forum and its nice to learn something

 

[Anonymous]

Hi

Yep i am norwegian.

You can connect your dvd/blueray or any other digital source to the H70 using either coax or toslink but the sound will be better only if the dac in the H70 is better than the dac that already is in your digital sources (dvd player or whatnot) If you plan on getting the sony blueray player then you should connect it to the amp using toslink. If you decide to go with either the cambridge or nad cd player then you really need to try for yourself and see (or hear that is) what sounds best between regular rca cables and digital coax/toslink. If you mostly listen to music then i would really go for the Nad because it will be faster and simpler to operate as a music player than a blue-ray player.

 

[DavidNorway]

Thanks joestone

Im going to have a look and listen at a few cd players i think and then test at home what cable to use.The samsung dvd player i have now has a really big sound difference from toslink to rca,toslink being so much better.

More good news is the wife is letting me spend 300 pound so i can have a better choice again.This hi-fi stuff is quite adictive but great fun!

 

[nads]

for 200 quid i would just buy more music. for 3 maybe a movie or 3..

 

[DavidNorway]

Nads i like your ideas! music its self has a seperate budget which i never let on to the wife,she knows i have alot but does not see it growing,however she will notice a cd player or the like! back to the uk in a few weeks which means record fairs! love em.