To DAC or not to DAC.....

Gaz1979

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Feb 8, 2012
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Afternoon, I've recently caught the upgrade bug and have so far purchased a Brio R and an RP3. I'm now looking at my CD player which is currently a Marantz CD6004. I've been looking at the Apollo R and although it doesn't get the 5 stars on here I've read some very good reviews and it's within budget (finding a cd player around the £500 mark seems a little difficult). I could probably push to something like the Audiolab 8200. My question is, and apologies if this has been asked before, am I looking in the wrong direction? Would it be better keeping the Marantz and investing in a DAC? The Arcam irDAC, Rega DAC and Audiolab M-DAC all get great write ups on here and seem well priced. Has anyone had any experiance using the Marantz with one of these DACs or similar? I use a laptop for listening to Spotify a fair bit so I guess a DAC brings the added benefit of upgrading the sound from that. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Gaz.
 

bluedroog

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First off don’t let reviews influence you too much, you’ll often get rival publications reviews completely contradict one another, there is only one opinion that matters and that is yours. Use reviews as a rough guide to compile a short list sure but go and listen for your self. How your enjoy the presentation of sound is such a personal thing.

I would say go for a DAC (or at least a CDP with digital inputs) since it will offer you greater flexibility than a CDP, you can hook up a number of sources to benefit and something like the M-DAC has the advantage of volume control and a decent headphone amp as well as filters if you wish to tailor the sound.
 

Gaz1979

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Cheers Bluedroog. I would definitely have arranged a few demos and hopefully I'd be able to take my amp in with me too. Obviously a home demo would be preferable but cant see many of the shops near me going for it. That's one tick for the DAC anyway.
 

BigH

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I would go and hear some cdp and dacs first, I don't find that much difference between them, in a blind test I doubt I would be able to pick one out.
 

CarlDW

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I would go with a dac as you have more flexibility. In fact I would try the Rega dac with your budget. I have heard it with the Brio-R and was very impressed.
 

sixofnine

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I don't know if this is a suitable thread to ask this, but I could do with some advise about DACs. At the moment I run my AppleTV through my six year old Panasonic TV via HDMI and that then connects to my Arcam Solo Neo via analogue cables (as it has no digital inputs). Is the DAC in the TV likely to be a reasonable one, or would I benefit greatly from a standalone, like an irDAC?
 

eengineer

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If have Arcam irdac, it's a great little device.

But there is absolutely no audible difference in sound between the irdac, an sb3, digital set-up box, microsystem dvd player.
If you're wishing for a huge leap, wether it be in realism or excitement, you will be very very dissapointed.

But if you're like me and are just looking for something to digitally connect: ios device, dvdplayer, appletv, sqeezebox, dig setupbox.
This one has all the inputs and it works.

It even has a remote control, altough it looks like it's electronics are crammed into a cheap generic plastic box.
 

sixofnine

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:wave: Thanks engineer! You're probably right, so I'll maybe stick with the TV DAC and save myself some money and clutter! The TV has to be on anyway, to see what the ATV's doing!
 

d_a_n1979

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sixofnine said:
:wave: Thanks engineer! You're probably right, so I'll maybe stick with the TV DAC and save myself some money and clutter! The TV has to be on anyway, to see what the ATV's doing!

The DAC in our TV wont be that great (generalisation I know but it'll not be)

I use my ATV to stream all music via a DAC but I have and would again use the FiiO DC DAC and highly recommend it too!

For c£30 its a little stunner!

Optical out from ATV to DAC; RCA from DAC to amp - Easy :)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/FiiO-192KHz-Digital-Analog-Converter/dp/B005PWPUW6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386352699&sr=8-1&keywords=fiio+d3
 

busb

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Jun 14, 2011
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I connect my M-DAC straight into my power amp. If you think most DACs sound the same as some state - there is absolutely no point in spending a lot. I heard the NAD £1k5 DAC in my system that showed mine a clean pair of heels but have no intention of upgrading for a while.
 

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