Have DAC’s improved for Redbook CD playback?

My redbooks sound great through an audio alchemy DDP-1. It actually amazes me how well they sound. I listen to digital/analog about 50%/50% since I bought it a year ago. Before that I listened to digital very rarely.   

I play a lot of redbook CDs off my ARC Ref CD-8 CD player.  The CD-8 was discontinued in 2013, but still sounds very good to me.  

I would appreciate hearing from some of our tech members, but here's a lay person reaction.  Redbook CDs are a 30++ year old technology.  I am open minded to the possibility that redbook DAC technology got better.  That said, I am somewhat dubious that if one has a recent'ish very good CD player, that current redbook CD player/DAC technology will take one to a new quantum higher level.  

BIF

It seems like DAC tech has gone sideways with development of alternative digital processing formats. Nothing against that as it relates to streaming. Seems like jitter control via better reclocking circuitry could largely account for the improvement. I ordered an Emperical Audio Synchro-Mesh unit, so I will see how much improvement is obtained using it. 

DACs are amazing. Always making huge strides with each new generation and new "flavor of the month", yet perpetually sounds "almost as good as vinyl, for real, this time".

To be fair, some reasonably priced DACs do sound pretty decent these days.

@celander



+1 Mulveling

I have tried various cables and clocks with the Benchmark DAC 3 and it makes no difference. Other DACs I have tried did benefit from these devices.

Whether you see a benefit from an extra device in front of your DAC depends on how robustly your DAC rejects all jitter and any Logic Induced Modulation.

I think the latest round of delta sigma DACs are just like vinyl - no digital glare at all. I found it very hard to tell the difference between any recent DAC with a reclocker vs the Benchmark DAC except in the case of a ladder DAC like the Metrum Pavane. I find the ladder DACs don’t have much glare but they often sound “etched” - IMHO the modern ladder DACs still sound like late 80’s and early 90’s DACs perhaps because the technology is similar. The delta sigmas of the late 90’s and 2000’s tend to sound less etched but often have glare. IMHO recent Delta Sigma DACs (the ESS 9028 and 9038 chips are exceptional) and very high quality ladder DACs are approaching vinyl.

I think of glare as being when higher harmonics dominate the distortion that is present. I think etched is when there is more lower harmonics dominating the distortion. I believe the distortion is related to jitter, logic induced modulation and differential non linearity. Neither technology is immune to problems but the latest DACs are much better especially if you avoid USB which has been poorly implemented in many products.