New DAC...or Amp...or both!

[admin_exported]

Hi

After dithering a while I ditched the idea of having ipod based music and bought a squeezebox duet. I've got it set up quite well and I'm generally quite pleased. But I can't help thinking though it sounds somehow flat compared to music played from my dedicated CD player. Do you think it would significantly improve sound by adding an external dac to the set-up (such as MF V-Dac or CA Dacmagic)? And do you think an amp upgrade would be of benefit (I have an older Marantz amp - PM6010OSE)

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Cheers

S

 

[Anonymous]

try the dac first

 

[Anonymous]

The DAC in the Squeezebox is so-so, and the DAC's you mention will improve the sound.

But beware of the file format and bit rate. Professionally handled ACC's from iTunes Store are OK (indistinguishable from CD's, unless you've got 'golden ears'), but low bitrate MP3's will never sound good. To get CD quality sound, you'll need CD quality files -- which means WAV/AIFF, FLAC or Apple Lossless, ripped from original CD's or bought from high quality vendors.

Hi-fi equipment can never improve what's put into it. Even the best DAC (or amp) will only put out what's put in.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks fot the reply. I purchased the Cambridge Audio dacmagic yesterday and I have to say it is much better than the playing the Squeezebox directly into the Amplifier.

One thing puzzles me though and that's the bit rates. The dac says its recieving an incoming sample rate of 44.1 but I assumed it would be higher than this.

I ripped all my music to wma lossless using windows media player, but then converted it (for reasons I won't go in to!) to apple lossless using dbpoweramp so the files should be the best quality possible.

Any ideas?

 

[Anonymous]

44.1 is the sample rate of the files, this is normal as all cd's are 44.1. Don't confuse sample rate and the bit rate.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I have to admit I'm streching my technical knowledge now. Many thanks!