Worth adding an audiolab m-dac to my streamer and cdp?

[David Parkes]

I have an arcam a19 a marantz cd6003 and a denon ae720 streamer. I am thinking of using the cdp as a transport and using the audiolab as the dac for both the cdp and streamer. Will a get a noticeable sound improvement? My speakers are kef r100.

guidance much appreciated.

thanks,

david

 

[Al ears]

I'd hazzard a guess and say probably. A difference in sound definately.

However both streamer and CD have reasonable DACs in them so you'd have to give it a serious audition and make up your own mind.

It will, of course, give you more settings to play with, making for a more flexible system that might make it worth the outlay.

 

[Stereosane]

I'm busing doing a home Demo with the new Nad D1050, I have an Arcam A18 and Nad C516. You need to really listen carefully to hear the differences in my opinion, it's not like speakers were you can hear the difference immediately in my opinion. I've managed to level match the dac with the CD player and the differences for me are small when compared to using the CD player without the Dac, but much bigger when using it through my media player. It's added more transparency when used with my CD player and I'm hearing more decay to symbols and more tonal character to bass lines, but they are small improvements, I've been AB testing since Thursdsy night and it's taken me a little while to start really hearing those differences, the biggest change is in the volume, the Nad Dac is about 4db louder than my CD player and a lot louder than my media player.

i reckon you need a really good system to hear what a dac can really do, using it for a Pc or Media Player will reap you the most benefits but trying to improve on modern CD players I think you will need an expensive dac and Amp with decent speakers to get the most out of it.

 

[busb]

The M-DAC is one of those fairly rare devices that really do need a good week of power being applied before they stop sounding a little edgy. So, if you borrow one, make sure it's not a new one. Given the rest of your system, you may be a little disappointed but you definitely need to hear a run-in one at home first.

 

[cannibal_ox77]

Just a thought but you can get an audiolab 8200 CD player for £470 on e-bay (brand new but the original non-OLED version). For less outlay you could replace your CD player with something in a different league and still get a great DAC. Not sure how big a gulf there is sonically between the DAC of the 8200CD and that of the M-DAC, but for CD's I think you'll hear a big improvement. Good partner for the Arcam too according to WHF (they still have the A19 and 8200cd as their mid-range favourites in best buys section)

There were a few ex-demo CDQs for £600-£650 recently but looks like they've shifted.

 

[busb]

Just a thought but you can get an audiolab 8200 CD player for £470 on e-bay (brand new but the original non-OLED version). For less outlay you could replace your CD player with something in a different league and still get a great DAC. Not sure how big a gulf there is sonically between the DAC of the 8200CD and that of the M-DAC, but for CD's I think you'll hear a big improvement. Good partner for the Arcam too according to WHF (they still have the A19 and 8200cd as their mid-range favourites in best buys section)

There were a few ex-demo CDQs for £600-£650 recently but looks like they've shifted.

The M-DAC sounds quite a bit better when compared directly with each other.

 

[cannibal_ox77]

It should do, but whether or not the results with CD playback from the cd6003 & m-dac would be better than the 8200cd? I'm not sure. Although some say transport isn't important...Others will spend £600+ on a transport.

Suppose it depends how the OP plans to upgrade (and whether or not the transport makes a difference)