What cd player and external DAC?
Bypass built-in CD player DAC
Quick question: if the digital output of a CD player is used to connect to an external DAC, is the CD player’s DAC bypassed or is the signal processed by the player’s DAC and then processed again by the external DAC? My old CD player has a bypass mode but the new one I am just testing doesn’t.
I compared the CD player and external DAC setup to CD Player without external DAC setup via RCA connections and it sounded very similar, which makes me think that the CD player’s DAC is used. Bypass mode on my old CD player with external DAC sounds completely different.
Thanks!
I compared the CD player and external DAC setup to CD Player without external DAC setup via RCA connections and it sounded very similar, which makes me think that the CD player’s DAC is used. Bypass mode on my old CD player with external DAC sounds completely different.
Thanks!
- ...
- 8 posts total
Both setups probably sound the same because the jitter is so high from the digital output as well as the internal master clock. If you reclock the digital output before going to the DAC, it will probably sound a lot better, but this depends on the DAC. Jitter is the #1 problem with digital. Here is the jitter of a good transport and how much a reclocker can reduce it: https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154408.0 Steve N. Empirical Audio |
Thanks for all the responses. It could well be the jitter. Set up was Rega Apollo with Berkeley Alpha DAC. My old CD player in pass-through mode with the Alpha DAC sounds much better. I am looking to replace the old CD player with a a more reliable one, ideally a transport only, but wanted to see if the Rega could be an option. |
Post removed |
- 8 posts total