To DAC or not to DAC that is the question

admin_exported

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Aug 10, 2019
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Hi

First off sorry for asking another question about PC's and DAC I guuess its been pretty well covered already, but Ive been out of touch for a while.

I recently started to update my system, Rotel RCD02, Rotel RA02 and Kef Q3, first off with a change to Marantz PM6003. All good very happy with upgrade.

Like many I have a large collection MP3, AAC and FLAC files stored on a netbook set aside to act as a 'server', it also runs iTunes, Spotify and Last.fm. This is curently feeding into the PM6003 via a headphone jack to phono, yes I know how bad that is, but its only there for proof of concept.

My original idea was to go for something like an Arcam rDac, using co-Ax from the Rotel RCD02 and USB from the Netbook. This would give me a nice boost from CD and clearly a massive jump from the netbook, which also being upgraded from iTunes to Foobar.

Then I thought, would it be possible upgrade the CD to say Marantz CD6003/4 (the more wife friendly - it all looks the same/fewer boxes option) and hook up netbook via USB to use the DAC there. Im not sure if this is possible, and if so would I use the Marantz to access the music via uPnP or does net book see the Marantz as an audio device to output to?

As i say Im a bit out of touch with this so any advice is greatly received. My budget is around the £300 mark for the changes.

Thanks
 

dannycanham

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I might be wrong but off the top of my head the USB in the marantz can read USB storage such as a USB memory stick but it is not capable of pc connectivity. PC connectivity would require the pc to see the marantz as an external sound card such as usb dacs do (rdac and audiolab in my case).

One type reads from storage.

The other type streams music to.
 

acalex

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Guys,

sorry for posting a doubt here, but is relative to DAC as well. I just bought an Arcarm rDAC as well, connected through USB to fixed pc. When I do such a connection, the sound stream is still sent trhough my built-in soundcard or the soundcard in this case (passing through USB) is not concerned at all in the process?

Thanks a lot!
 
A

Anonymous

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Thanks for your comments Danny

Looks like because I want to have an 'inteligent source' rather than plain storage the DAC is the route to go.

Big help thanks
 
acalex said:
Guys,

sorry for posting a doubt here, but is relative to DAC as well. I just bought an Arcarm rDAC as well, connected through USB to fixed pc. When I do such a connection, the sound stream is still sent trhough my built-in soundcard or the soundcard in this case (passing through USB) is not concerned at all in the process?

Thanks a lot!

My understanding is that the asynchronous USB system in your Arcam means the DAC handles the data transfer, not the PC. So I imagine the souncard is by-passed to achieve that.
 

ReValveiT

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The rDac is nice (I have one) and will be great as a quality booster to your netbook, but I wouldn't expect a great leap in performance from your (still excellent) RCD-02.
 

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