Will a £1500 DAC beat a £1500 CD Player via redbook cd?

gooner26

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Apperently not in the readers test this issue!

Also can someone explain to me the main advantages's a DAC offer? Is it the future proofing ie 96/24 playback?

Is it the abilty to control your CD collection in the palm of your hand?

What about sound quality though? I have read DAC's are great beacause they do not have moving parts like a cd player has so it therefore should produce a better sound.

Also is it true that a £2000 CD player will sound pretty much like a 96/24 FLAC download?

Regards Danny
 

Gerrardasnails

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gooner26:
Apperently not in the readers test this issue!

Also can someone explain to me the main advantages's a DAC offer? Is it the future proofing ie 96/24 playback?

Is it the abilty to control your CD collection in the palm of your hand?

What about sound quality though? I have read DAC's are great beacause they do not have moving parts like a cd player has so it therefore should produce a better sound.

Also is it true that a £2000 CD player will sound pretty much like a 96/24 FLAC download?

Regards Danny

I want to buy the new Moon DAC for £1200. I expect it to be a match for £2k plus cd players when fed with lossless files. My Dacmagic already gives me an up to £1k cdp performance (IMO).
 

gooner26

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I also noticed that some £1500 dac's from the likes of naim & cyrus do not go the cat5 route of recieving audio from a laptop in the same way the arcam r-dac does or the linn ds range do? i was under the impression ethernet cable produces a higher fidelity and therefore produces much better results.

regards danny
 

Gerrardasnails

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gooner26:
I also noticed that some £1500 dac's from the likes of naim & cyrus do not go the cat5 route of recieving audio from a laptop in the same way the arcam r-dac does or the linn ds range do? i was under the impression ethernet cable produces a higher fidelity and therefore produces much better results.

regards danny

I don't understand how Ethernet can produce better results, let alone much better results.
 

both.of.me

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gooner26:
I also noticed that some £1500 dac's from the likes of naim & cyrus do not go the cat5 route of recieving audio from a laptop in the same way the arcam r-dac does or the linn ds range do? i was under the impression ethernet cable produces a higher fidelity and therefore produces much better results.

regards danny

the arcam r-dac does not use cat5 it has usb, optical and coaxial connections there is a upgrade being made available soon to add wireless (bluetooth connectivity)
 

Andrew Everard

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The Arcam rDAC doesn't receive audio over Ethernet, and the wireless functionality won't be using Bluetooth - it'll use the Kleer system, requiring a dedicated USB 'dongle' plugged into your computer.
 

chebby

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For me it's not about whether a DAC will 'beat' a CD player. (Besides, a growing number of good CD players have inputs for external digital sources for those who want both.)

A stand-alone DAC is also about plugging in and enjoying all those other devices like PCs, laptops, Freeview boxes, DVD and BD players/recorders and PS3s etc. Thousands of internet radio stations, BBC iPlayer, Spotify.

If you still need/want/enjoy playing CDs then do just that. If you want CD and a DAC for external sources, then there are those too (the new Audiolab 8200CD for one example). If you don't have much need for a CD player then just get a standalone DAC.

Arcam now have a good DAC, Rega will very soon, Naim has one now (along with a bunch of products with DACs built in), Audiolab will soon, Cambridge Audio and Cyrus make good ones too.

None of them are making these DACs to 'beat' their own CD players. They are offered as stand-alone products (or in combination with integrated amps and CDPs and pre-amps and 'all-in-one' units) to enable flexibility for those customers who want to enjoy other (non-CD) digital sources at their best.

"CD player vs DAC" is so 'last year'
 

JoelSim

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All in the ear of the beholder.

My CDP sounds better playing CDs than lossless files played through the very same onboard DAC of the CDP. Far more space and delicacy as well as warmth in the playback.

And if you believe everything you read, it also depends on whether you have defragged your hard drive recently before ripping/downloading tunes, or many other things.
 

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