New dac
Everything in my system is fairly new except the dac and the CD player. Giving what I've been reading about how dacs have progressed over the years I thought maybe I'm missing out on the latest developments. Not sure how my dac compares to today's latest and greatest. If anyone had had the Digital link iii and moved on to something better I would like to hear from you. Thanks |
You have a very nice and well balanced system. The weak link on the PS DL 3 is the USB input. I assume you are using the DAC in the Node 2 for streaming purposes and the DL3 with your CD player as transport. I sold my first DL3 about 5 years ago, because I needed additional inputs (used a USB/SPDIF converter which took up the only coax input) converter. Just recently bought another DL3 to use in a second system. I believe the DL3 to be a very good sounding and well built DAC at current used prices. In my opinion it would take considerably more money to do much better (unless USB is required). If I was looking to upgrade beyond the DL3 I would consider a DAC that could serve both the bluesound and disc player. What is your budget for a DAC? |
Before you replace the DAC, see if it isn't the jitter from the Bluesound and transport that is causing this. Do both sources lack mid-bass? Here is some typical jitter: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154408.0 http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154310.0 You might try a Synchro-Mesh reclocker in the S/PDIF coax cable to reduce jitter to ~20psec. 30-day money-back, less shipping.The Synchro-Mesh also has these sonic benefits: 1) Galvanically isolates the source from the DAC, eliminating ground-loops. 2) upsamples 44.1 to 96, so the digital filter used in the DAC is a better one, not brick-wall. Also, I recommend to get a better S/PDIF coax cable, one that is high-performance like the Reference BNC with RCA adapters or the Standard BNC with RCA adapters. The Standard BNC is only $275. Steve N. Empirical Audio |
I'm actually using the PS audio dac instead of the node 2 dac, which sounds better to me. Music seems more alive with a wider soundstage then the node 2s dac. I do remember hooking up my marantz pm 8004 last fall and felt it had more punch, but vocals weren't quite as clear as with the Belles amp. I guess what I want to know is if the dl 3 is still a capable dac giving its age. |
