How to get into high end digital? (Feeding a DAC)


I am looking primarily at the Schitt Yggdrasil or the Topping D90.
  • How does one feed those?
  • I am assuming any sort of CD transport would output the bit stream?
  • or… they get saved to file and played from some media player into the DACs.

Some example of what is commonly done would be great.

The system currently consists of:
  • TT —> Audio Research PH2
  • An old Nakamichi 5 disk CD player
  • TV
  • Audible Illusions line stage (New tunes on the way, but it still sound OK to me with the old tube in it)
  • Prima Luna (with GoldenLion and TS KT-120 one the way… and I might I’ll get the VTL mono blocks 100w/ch serviced)
  • Vandy 2C and Vandy sub

I also have a Home Theatre pre, which is Roon capable, on the way… So that maybe does some of this for me as well? 

But to be totally honest, the digital side is a bit of mystery to me.
I have always thought we plug in a CD player and the signal comes out. (Maybe with some nuance in DACs, clock jitter, and filtering to separate the higher end from the lower end products.)
128x128holmz
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I would start with one switch. See what happens.  Top end switches start at circa 700/- so its not as if it would break the bank.  Check out reviews.  See what other people say about that item.   Not to be disloyal, but I find whatsbest and audiophilestyle are easily the most informative forums for things audio. 

Why does good support improve sound?   That's easy.  There are a few thousand itty bitty pieces of stuff in an amp (or any electrical unit) - things like capacitors, rectifiers, resistances etc.  Each of them vibrates a tiny bit at their own resonant frequency in response to the vibration from the music and transformers, etc.  This generates their own tiny signal in the overall electrical field of the amp.  Thousands of these conflicting signals are feeding into the main signal.  That's emi inside the unit = hash.  There are various ways of dealing with the vibration....you can use mass for damping, special materials to line the walls of the unit, springs to try to make the  whole unit move as one in response to outside vibration, cones (they are like mechanical valves) to block outside vibrations.  On top of the vibration from speakers, a fun fact to keep in mind is that Earth is constantly at Richter 1-2. 

In my opinion, the best are those devices that drain entropy, preventing transfer of vibration into the component and at the same time cancelling internal vibration.  They also work for speakers by decoupling them from room effects.  In fact, it is with footers for speakers where I found the most significant improvements.  Relatively expensive, but worth every cent.  

I've elaborated a bit here because, in my opinion, these particular sub species of footers along with audiophile switches are both the best bang for the buck in audio at its current state of development.  They are SOUND QUALITY amplifiers, even for relatively cheap equipment.  Much smarter upgrade path than buying more expensive equipment.

Not sure what magnetic platters do....I have never used one.

Good power cords block emi and clean up the signals and improve SQ in ways that I don't really understand, but have empirical experience of.  Its easy to test this.  Just try to compare a couple of ac cables, give them ten minutes of play time before judging.  You should get a taste of what you will finally get after 5-600 hundred hours of usage (this is a dead crazy hobby we have got ourselves into).  Again, there are great ac cables starting at circa 200/-.

Hope this is helpful and not too long winded.

Best wishes


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