[SlimDevices: Audiophiles] External DAC?
I have a system that have cost me around 25000 SEK (about $3000); my CD player is a Pioneer DVD 668 which I am very happy with. Now I have integrated a SB classic into the system and I am for the moment quite happy with the sound, the sound from the SB is about on par with the DVD player which I find a bit shocking considering the price difference. I have had a few friends over and there were jaws dropping all over the place... ;-) At the moment I am busy ripping all my CD:s to FLAC... Now to my question... I have noticed that some users of the SB use an external DAC to improve the sound. How much do I have to spend on a DAC to get a clear improvement over the internal DAC? I do not want to spend a lot and only get a subtle change... Do you have any suggestions for a DAC that is known to work very well with the SB and is a real improvement? /Per -- peber peber's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=31446 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=65771 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] External DAC?
peber;442001 Wrote: Now to my question... I have noticed that some users of the SB use an external DAC to improve the sound. How much do I have to spend on a DAC to get a clear improvement over the internal DAC? I do not want to spend a lot and only get a subtle change... Do you have any suggestions for a DAC that is known to work very well with the SB and is a real improvement? You'll find as wide a range of opinion on that as is possible. Some will tell you all modern digital sources sound the same unless they're broken, others will talk about night and day, veils lifting, etc. I'm pretty much in that first camp, but nevertheless I own a Benchmark DAC1 (but for reasons that don't have much to do with sound quality per se). One thing I can tell you is that the SB3, at least mine, has a relatively high noise floor associated with the display - I can hear it clearly through my not-so-typical setup when no music is playing - and the headphone out is pretty bad. But if neither of those bothers you and you don't need the additional functionality an external DAC can provide, I doubt you're going to notice the difference. If you're in doubt, borrow a DAC and run a simple blind test - have a friend switch and try to identify which is which. That will give you a very good idea how important the differences are (if they exist at all). -- opaqueice opaqueice's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4234 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=65771 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] External DAC?
And a large part of better is opinion. What you'll probably find is that DACs of all price ranges will sound different which may not be better depending on your preferences. -- SuperQ SuperQ's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2139 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=65771 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] External DAC?
peber;442001 Wrote: I have a system that have cost me around 25000 SEK (about $3000); my CD player is a Pioneer DVD 668 which I am very happy with. Now I have integrated a SB classic into the system and I am for the moment quite happy with the sound, the sound from the SB is about on par with the DVD player which I find a bit shocking considering the price difference. I have had a few friends over and there were jaws dropping all over the place... ;-) At the moment I am busy ripping all my CD:s to FLAC... Now to my question... I have noticed that some users of the SB use an external DAC to improve the sound. How much do I have to spend on a DAC to get a clear improvement over the internal DAC? I do not want to spend a lot and only get a subtle change... Do you have any suggestions for a DAC that is known to work very well with the SB and is a real improvement? /Per Can an expensive DAC make a difference, it sure can. Having said that, if you like the way the SB3 sounds compared to your DVD player, just use the SB3. At $3000 total system cost, my opinion would be to improve other system parts before putting money into a DAC. What I am saying is that if you buy a decent DAC, one of two things will probably happen. The DAC is going to reveal system short comings (speakers, amp, pre-amp) or you are likely to hear little to no difference by adding the DAC. Of course as SuperQ points out, better is an opinion and what sounds good to one person sounds lacking to another. And as Opaqueice mentioned, I am also a big fan of borrowing gear to try at home before I buy. Stuff can sound great at the dealer and like crap in ones home system. Always to many variables between showroom and home (room, furnishings, cables, equipment mix, etc). -- iPhone *iPhone* Media Room: Transporter, VTL TL-6.5 Signature Pre-Amp, Ayre MX-R Mono's, VeraStarr 6.4SE 6-channel Amp, Vandersteen Speakers: Quatro Mains, VCC-5 Reference Center, four VSM-1 Signatures, Video: Runco RS 900 CineWide AutoScope 2.35:1 Living Room: Duet, ADCOM GTP-870HD, Cinepro 3K6SE III Gold, Vandersteen Model 3A Signature, Two 2Wq subs, VCC-2, Two VSM-1 Kitchen: Squeezebox BOOM Bedroom: SB3, GFR-700HD, Thiel 2.3, Second Boom Home Office: SB3, NAD C370, two VSM-1 Home Gym: SB3, Parasound Vamp v.3, Thiel PowerPoint 1.2 House Portable: SB3, Audioengine A5 Ford Thunderbird: Duet, Mac Mini Ford Expedition: SB3, ToughBook iPhone's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13622 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=65771 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] Transporter to pre- or poweramp
A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and see the results, please visit http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=64028 Question: To what is your Transporter connected - Preamp - Poweramp Just trying to get this right... My Arcam P1's both have balanced xlr connections so can I connect the TP directly to the P1's with my balanced XLR cables without an external attenuators? Power amplifier input Nominal sensitivity 906mV (Arcam gain) Input impedance 22k#937; Gain 31.5dB (Arcam gain) Next question: are the IR connections just 12V trigger for the amps? My Spouse would love to see less hardware in the main listening room and I can start by getting rid of the Pre-amp... crossing my fingers that she loves it and then I will spring the new ATC actives on her to replace the 2 Mono-blocks and the current ATC passives :-) -- Ozz 2 Channel listening Room: Transporter, Arcam C31 and Arcam P1 Mono Blocks feeding ATC SCM19s Cable and interconnects are both Kimber. HP media server with 4TB of storage connected to the whole house GB network. (in media closet) Media Room:Sony 70 SXRD, 4 NHT VT-2 Biamped (running all 4 subs) 4 NHT VS-2. Outlaw 990 6 Yamaha MX-2000 amps 4 NHT SA-2 amps (Sub amps) PS3 with 500GB onboard and 4TB external storage. Master BR: Sony 56 XBR4 and Yamaha YSP-4000 sound bar fed from media closet. Ozz's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=31687 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=64028 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] DAC reccomendations...Looking for some warmth
Instead of adding another unit to the transporter you could also get it modded by Modwright. He completely redesigns the output stage and power supply (latest iteration is the Platinum Mod). As the 6moons review of the Modwright Transporter mentioned, the modded unit is on par with the likes of Zanden and DACs. I love mine. It makes the regular transporter sounds like a hollow tin box in comparison (sorry...). The nice aspect is that you can roll tubes, too, e.g. the EML 5U4G Meshplate and 6h30 supertubes. Pic here: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=58673 -- deutscherhififan Primary: QNAP TS109II BPT CPC Modwright Platinum Signature 'Truth' Transporter with 6N30P DR 'Super Tubes' + EML 5U4G Mesh or Oppo BDP-83 Maxxed Woo Audio WA2 with TungSol 5998's, Amperez Bugleboy 6DJ7's, and Mullard EZ80's Audio Mirror 45W SET Monoblocks Piega P4XL II + Piega PSub4. AKG K701 Headphones, all Kimber cables Secondary: Monster Signature Power Conditioner Duet Beresford 7520 DAC Vista Audio i34 Integrated Tube Amp Epos M5 Speakers + sub deutscherhififan's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=23272 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=64335 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
Re: [SlimDevices: Audiophiles] How much to be gained with a newer DAC over my MSB DACLINK III ?
You could sell both an get a used Transporter from Audiogon. That should do it. -- deutscherhififan Primary: QNAP TS109II BPT CPC Modwright Platinum Signature 'Truth' Transporter with 6N30P DR 'Super Tubes' + EML 5U4G Mesh or Oppo BDP-83 Maxxed Woo Audio WA2 with TungSol 5998's, Amperez Bugleboy 6DJ7's, and Mullard EZ80's Audio Mirror 45W SET Monoblocks Piega P4XL II + Piega PSub4. AKG K701 Headphones, all Kimber cables Secondary: Monster Signature Power Conditioner Duet Beresford 7520 DAC Vista Audio i34 Integrated Tube Amp Epos M5 Speakers + sub deutscherhififan's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=23272 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=65069 ___ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
