burtlively Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 is it neccesary to add an outboard DAC (channel islands audio vda-1, music al fidelity a3.24) in order to maximize performance. i know this can create much discussion, but I am unsure whether it would actually make a difference in my system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artto Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 Burt, as you probably suspect, there are many different views on the subject. All I can offer is my own experience. A recent acquaintance of mine is using a Wadia WT-2000 transport and a dCS DAC along with some other very expensive big buck stuff. At the time, my system hadnt under gone any maintenance for maybe 10 years. And I was in the middle of making some acoustical changes to the room so it was not up to par either. I played CDs for him on a $500 Denon pro audio player. He was flabbergast! Very unsatisfied with his sound after listening to this. Moral of the story: There are more important things that affect sound quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burtlively Posted July 10, 2003 Author Share Posted July 10, 2003 arto, now that's the kind of info i need! i'm looking forward to some passionate discussion on this, but your original note was what i was expecting! have a GREAT day!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted July 10, 2003 Share Posted July 10, 2003 Burt, my experience was a little different. I was using a decent Denon player with my Khorns and tube amp when I bought a used MSB DAC with Nelson upgrade. I noticed a distinct improvement in all aspects of the sound quality from the source. My system has never sounded so good. That's not to say that a one-box unit can't also sound just as good, but I wanted you to know that I think this outboard DAC really sounds wonderful. I also agree with Artto that there are a multitude of things that can make just as big an improvement in sound quality. But my system was pretty refined and tweaked before I added the DAC. My interconnects were in good order, my room sound is excellent, I have nice components throughout the system, things are tuned in pretty well, etc... Adding the DAC and a nice transport made much more of a difference in sound quality than I expected. Let me also add this, many of my cd's that I thought sounded fine on my old system, are not as nice sounding now. I think improvements to a system that are designed to bring out the actual recording as accurately as possible, reveal flaws in those same recordings. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burtlively Posted July 10, 2003 Author Share Posted July 10, 2003 thanks greg, do you think the effect was amplified because it married your tube so well? i have very little experience with tubes, but from what i have seen, they are truly the real deal! i would love to change my ss system over to tubes. i am realizing now what you mean by quality recordings as well. my ref 50 makes sure to remind me when a recording is not up to snuff. have a GREAT day!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted July 11, 2003 Share Posted July 11, 2003 Hi, No, I don't think the effect was enhanced by the tube amp. I notice as much of a difference with my McIntosh SS amp. In fact, I'm more satisfied than ever with my SS because of the DAC. I'm getting much the same detail enhancement, wide soundstage, and open midrange with the DAC and SS amp as I did when I first tried the tube amp. Like I said before, I was surprised by the level of improvement that I got when I went to a quality transport and a separate DAC. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burtlively Posted July 11, 2003 Author Share Posted July 11, 2003 thanks again greg. i am interested in what everyone is saying in this forum. i have done a lot of searching over the past few days, and there are many differences in opinion. i think i am going to go with a musical fidelity a 3.24. i can get a new unit for just under $800. what do you think in terms of different dacs? the guy i trade with a lot also has channel islands audio. he said their dac would provide some improvement, but the musical fidelity was the way to go. your thoughts??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksdad Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 since you asked me about dacs i have been interested, so i looked into the mf xdac and in some sites (mf's) they say they are the difference between good cd playback and bad, but going to review pages i found many who said that in order to get the dac up to promissed specs they had to do mods... power supply, resolder cold solder joints (tweakers go figure?)anyway they do sound interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg928gts Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 Sorry, I can't offer much in the way of advice on which DAC's to purchase. But I can tell you that I wouldn't hesitate to buy used. There's very little that can go wrong with a DAC really, and people are always upgrading. I paid less than half of the normal new selling price for my unit. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 Don't have anything to offer regarding outboard DAC's. I had been listening to an Ah! Njoe Tjoebs CD player for a while. Sounded great, then got curious about their upsampler option. Bought and installed it. If I understand what it does, and that is a disclaimer for this rank layman, it's a poor man's DAC, which is proprietary and dedicated to the Njoe Tjoebs player alone. Anyway, months ago I read a review stating that the upsampler was like lifting a veil off the music. That description fit with my experience and with a result that was surprising to me in the impact it has. Regards, Dee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avman Posted July 20, 2003 Share Posted July 20, 2003 does your b&k equipment have a d-to-a converter built in? i'm not familiar w/the reference 50,but given their reputation,if it does,it should be a good one. if that is the case,i would go digital out to the b&k and see if you can hear a difference. i have burr/brown d-to-a converters in my strda777es,so i let it do all the processing. avman. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksdad Posted July 20, 2003 Share Posted July 20, 2003 the b&k gear has 192/24 bit dac's and i must sy the are really good, and yes i do the digital connection thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted July 20, 2003 Share Posted July 20, 2003 "Let me also add this, many of my cd's that I thought sounded fine on my old system, are not as nice sounding now. I think improvements to a system that are designed to bring out the actual recording as accurately as possible, reveal flaws in those same recordings." 2 points 1. quote aboove is key. Some source software sounds worse as you improve. 2. Modding has a place in the digital world. www.virmode.com This firm sells a paper and supplies for managing EMI inside cd players and DACs. Dampening, sheilding and other ideas. An underestimated situation. www.tweakaudio.com This firm tweaked CD players, built dacs and now mods multi format players The MSB LINK II I have acquired as a demo is an enhancement I would never leave out of my system. I may do a tweaked multi format player in 4-5 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundog Posted July 22, 2003 Share Posted July 22, 2003 Perpetual Technologies (AV123.com) make an amazing DAC and Digital Processor that do great things for CDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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