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A few questions about DAC basics

I have been making a few upgrades to my system and a friend suggested that I consider a decent used DAC as a good upgrade. He was not really sure if my CD/DVD player could use a DAC. He has very high end equipment and has separate transport/DAC etc. Guess he hasn't slummed it with off the shelf integrateds for awhile:)

Here is my system:

My system is:
Denon 5 ch DTS receiver (1801)
Parasound 1000 hca amp for the fronts only
RBH Sound 61SE fronts
RBH 661SE Center
Polk Audio S6’s for rears
ACI Titan Sub
Pioneer Elite DVD/CD player DV-C36
DH Labs T14 silversonic speaker wire
Tekline TL 2000 RCA interconnect from the Denon L/R preouts to the Parasound amp
Glass Toslink digital cable from Pioneer to Denon

My first question is can I add a DAC to this system?
I am assuming that the Pioneer d/a converter is what I am using now when I play CD's.
I have coax, optical and regular RCA outputs on the Pioneer.
Presently using a Glass Toslink to the optical in on the Denon. The Denon has two optical ins, a digital coax in, and several RCA analog pairs in, as well as additional Ext. in for 6.1.

My second question is more like several and I apologize if it is too simplistic. From reading these forums it seems that an external DAC is connected from a digital output from a CD or DVD player and then has outputs that go into the preamp, or in my case the Denon DTS receiver. Does the DAC connect to the preamp via analog in or digital in to the receiver?

I am also assuming that the DAC handles the digital signal in such a way as to improve or expand it? I read stuff about upsampling, etc and it sounds very interesting.

Another question I have is what happens when I am playing a DVD? This is where I start to get confused.When I am playing a DVD right now, the Pioneer sends the DTS or Dolby Digital signal to the Denon for processing into 5.1.
Does adding a DAC still allow this process? I mostly listen to music, but still want to watch movies in 5.1 dts or DD sometimes.

Finally, is this a reasonable upgrade for this modest of a system, and do you have any suggestions for around 3-500$ used?

Thanks for your input and patience. I have improved my system quite a bit from the info on these forums and appreciate the expertise here.
lkdog
lkdog OP
417 posts
 
Talked to Denon and a Tech named Tony who was very helpful.
This unit does have analog bypass through the EXT IN inputs.
He confirmed that anything through the regular inputs would go through the Denon circuitry.

His solutions to the subwoofer were:

1) Get a DAC with two sets of analog outputs and run one set to the FL/FR of the EXT IN, and take the other set and use a Y cable and run it into the EXT sub in input. He stated that the DAC must have two discrete buffered analog out pairs.

2) Use the analog outs of the DAC for the FR/FL and if the Pioneer had two sets of discrete buffered analog outputs (which it does) then run a separate signal to the EXT IN sub input from the Pioneer rather than the DAC. He stated that their may be some timing issues with this, but they would probably not be noticeable at the low frequencies. Only trying it out would tell if that would work.

3) You could just not use the sub for two channel since the monitors went down to 45 hz depending on what kind of music I generally listenend to.

Of course the speaker level connections for the sub should also work which has been suggested by this forum.

Thanks for all of the help.
lkdog OP
417 posts
 
Small update. Ran the Pioneer through the EXT INs to bypass the Denon. Sub was not hooked up.
Did A/B for several minutes on a CD that I know well (Foreplay-Heartfelt).

Mrowlands - You were right, it sounded better. The bass was definitely extended and tighter, and the mids/highs had a bit more presence. The overall soundstage also had more depth.
This was using some cheap RCA cables I had laying around.

Well, no matter what I do, the EXT INs are going to get used somehow for two channel listening. I have been convinced about bypassing the Denon circuitry for two channel. I had no idea.

Thanks again.
mraybeck
23 posts
 
Thanks for the update, Lkdog. I am happy to hear that you do, in fact, have an analog bypass circuit. So, if in the future, you wish to add a DAC, you should be able to reap all the benefits. Your little experiment also proves that the DAC in your Pioneer Elite is superior to those in the Denon (not a surprise). Be sure to let us know what you decide to do to integrate the sub and the results.
Happy Listening,
Mark Raybeck
mrowlands
54 posts
 
Thanks for the update. Better cables will improve it even further. Have fun!
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