How good is 8000 dollar Sony Dac transport from 89

There is no comparison. It's like comparing my 1987 20MHZ computer with a 20Mb Hard Drive and 640 KB RAM to my 1.7 GHZ computer today. Digital technology improves exponentially. Buy someting made in the last few years with at least 20bit DACs for the best results.

agree with Buckingham on the dac front, however, I bought an older reference transport, Teac Esoteric P1 ($6k USD in 1988), and it is excelllent! Detail retrieval, air. cymbals have nice shimmer, etc. I have a half decent dac and cabling, so that helps, but don't be afraid to pick up a good older used transport, and pair it with a newer dac- you might be surprised!

We've talked before, if the price is right, go for it. I'll bet it still sounds great.

I'd expect the DAC to be dated, but one thing about the early Sony top of the line was that there apparently was an excellent interface between the units that was way ahead of its time (sort of an I2S, I think). Might not sound too bad for the right price; certainly a collector's item.

I have a early 90s vintage Philips CD-80 that compares very favorably with todays cd players in its price catagory. Is the current technology better; yes, but the difference was not as great as I would have expected.

Chuck

I saw those on Agon too - they looked interesting. I'd take the chance if you have the $. You can always move them later for same $ I bet. I thought about it but already have an XA7ES and am looking for an SCD-1. Overall, the sony high-end statement products like this, SCD-1, XA7ES, etc. are built very well. Despite the DAC being not the "latest flavor in favor" or whatever it probably still sounds quite good.

As an aside, the really rare and exotic sony dac/transport setup to have is the R10 series, even better and more over the top than the R1, extremely rare, sold for about 5X the price of the R1, not even sure if it was ever officially imported into USA. (I think not).

-Ed

All i have to say about DACs is this:

Get a newer one. I just auditioned the MSB link dacIII with half Nelson upgrade and upsampling in combination with a VERY CHEAP pioneer multi-player...

This combination COMPLETELY DESTROYED a REGA Plantet 2000 stand alone AND it was markedly better than a five year old esoteric audio DAC that used to retail for 3000 canadian..(Whatever that is American, i dont' know off hand).

I'm telling you, if you want a great dac at a reasonable cost, look at MSB link dacIII - but make sure it has the Half Nelson upgrade...

you can later upgrade by installing upsampling and a power base.

Killer. Killer, i tell ya!!

Stephen