Source dilemma

[admin_exported]

I am currently happy with my most of my set up but considering the position regarding my cd player.

At the moment I mainly play vinyl on the LP12 but when using the cd player I tend to use the USB port on the front and use my ipod for convenience (playing mainly lossless files ripped from cd). I very rarely use the actual cd transport itself. What are my options for making an improvement? I have considered staying with current cd player but add an Arcam ir dock when using the ipod (which I understand would be an improvement over the USB port). Could I buy a DAC and plug my ipod into this in the same way (but get rid of the cd player)?

Is there any other option for me? Is there any way I can use my laptop as the source wirelessly through a DAC or does it need to be physically connected (which wouldn't work for me as the TT is on top of the rack)? Does this give better sound than a ipod plus dock/DAC?

Budget for improvement is £500 plus whatever I might get for the cd player if it was sold. Probably around £700-750 all in then.

Sorry if some of this is obvious or nonsense but i'm a but of a luddite as far as this side of hi fi is concerned. I'm much happier with turntables/amps/speakers!

Ian

 

[Thaiman]

I don't think there is a way of getting digital signal out of your dock to stand alone DAC. If you want to go down that route then Wadia 170i is the best option but at cost (rrp £400 but I seen it for less). which leave you with 350 notes to get a DAC. The DAC magic wouldn't do imo so looking for a better option, I only can think of Chord Chordette Gem (or something like that, silly name anyway), it does sound very good for the price, I would have think it would sound quite a bit better than your Marantz. The grand total will be £820. (target price is around £750)

 

[John Duncan]

There's always the Onkyo ND-S1 dock, which has a digital out and can be had for as little as 120 quid now. It's digital only though, no audio outs so you have to add a DAC.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that - on a very quick search I have just seen the Wadia for £250 and the Chord for £400 so within budget.

Are you saying the ipod would sit on the Wadia, which would then be plugged into the DAC, which in turn is then connected to the amp using standard analogue interconnect)?

Is the Wadia effectively the same as an Arcam ir dock or would the Arcam simply plug in directly to the amp? If the Arcam just goes directly into the amp then I assume the quality isn't as good as you will be using the ipod DAC.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

one option as posted above is PC-USB-dac with usb input. Chordette Gem is one example and will sound very good, from my experience. another good thing about it is that the current version of the Gem is apt-x enabled, so you can stream to it wirelessly using bluetooth, but with higher than normal bluetooth quality. you can stream from ipod or computer, but you need a dongle for any of them. I understadn new macs have apt-x in them, so no dongles needed for new macs to use apt-x version of bluetooth.

the gem is abt 400gbp, each dongle about 50 (but you probably need only one).

if you want to improve ipod output you can take digital out from it, . it can be done with digital docks (i think either denon or onkyo has one and wadia, as above) and then to a DAC (but make sure dac inputs match the type of dock outputs). also, many of the new mini-systems (like denon dm38) and receivers have digital ipod in, so this maybe an option for future.

from dac to amp - narmal analog interconenct stereo cable.

EDIT: post crossed with above posts, so excuse some repetition

 

[Anonymous]

Ok - so if it is a digital dock I need a DAC, but an analogue dock can just go straight into amp?

Can I buy a digital dock and go via the cd6003 or would that not make any great difference to sound quality?

 

[AlmaataKZ]

daskeg:

Ok - so if it is a digital dock I need a DAC, but an analogue dock can just go straight into amp?

yes, yes. but analog dock will take analog signal from ipod (i.e. the dac inside the ipod is used). digital dock will take digital out and the conversion will have to be done in an external dac, where you can gain quality of sound. the beter the external dac and the better resolution of the files on the ipod (best is lossless), the more quality you can gain

daskeg:

Can I buy a digital dock and go via the cd6003 or would that not make any great difference to sound quality?

yes you can (i.e. using the CDP as a DAC, if it has digital input). theoretically you can gain in quality this way, but you have to try as it will be comparing teh sound of the ipod's dac andCDP's dac..

recommnedation to try also applies to the digital dock + dac option.

 

[Anonymous]

Just checked - no digital in so that isn't an option.

Looks like some demoing of digital dock/DAC combos might be in order. Are there any views on how a £750 dock/DAC combo would stack up against a similarly priced CD player?

 

[Thaiman]

daskeg:

Just checked - no digital in so that isn't an option.

Looks like some demoing of digital dock/DAC combos might be in order. Are there any views on how a £750 dock/DAC combo would stack up against a similarly priced CD player?

Of course it hasn't that's why I mentioned the Chords DAC

How would the combo stack up with the similar price CD player, I doubt if any of us have heard every CD player that rrp £750 but I guess is yes, wadia/chord should be more than good enough at that price point.