rega planet is a pocket cd-player mechanizm incorporated with great dac.
that's why spending $500 on external dac will be just a waste.
to approach a performance of Rega to be like Meridian 508/24 you can get TACT RCS2.0 DAC-preamp that brings even pocket CD-player with optical output onto the level of "champion" machines. you can get here demo model for a-bit above $2k but you should realize that you can sell your preamp and there you'll spend less already...
i've heard many statements such as my rega planet is the best as whole and doesn't sound good with external dac
well how it can if it has a poor transport?
a poor transport and mechanizm can be successfully incorporated into one-box player.
i used to own mccormack mod squad prizm cd-player that is something like great mechanizm- poor transport- with descent dac. after i connected it with EAD DSP 700 MK2 dac 1)on half of my cds there were mis-relocking; 2)sounded encapsulated and unopen...
well i decided to get the dedicated transport and thus corrected this problem.
As to Meridian 508/24 it has excellent mechanizm incorporated with excellent transport and excellent dac together in one box creating no headache with jitter, digital interconnects and finally could be your last one for real.
that's why spending $500 on external dac will be just a waste.
to approach a performance of Rega to be like Meridian 508/24 you can get TACT RCS2.0 DAC-preamp that brings even pocket CD-player with optical output onto the level of "champion" machines. you can get here demo model for a-bit above $2k but you should realize that you can sell your preamp and there you'll spend less already...
i've heard many statements such as my rega planet is the best as whole and doesn't sound good with external dac
well how it can if it has a poor transport?
a poor transport and mechanizm can be successfully incorporated into one-box player.
i used to own mccormack mod squad prizm cd-player that is something like great mechanizm- poor transport- with descent dac. after i connected it with EAD DSP 700 MK2 dac 1)on half of my cds there were mis-relocking; 2)sounded encapsulated and unopen...
well i decided to get the dedicated transport and thus corrected this problem.
As to Meridian 508/24 it has excellent mechanizm incorporated with excellent transport and excellent dac together in one box creating no headache with jitter, digital interconnects and finally could be your last one for real.