newbie DAC question

@erik_squires actually I did a decent amount of direct comparisons between CD and CA quality. My overall impression is that, no, the CA does not sport same-as-cd quality. Not really a shocker for $35! However - the quality is remarkably close. On the albums I used to test this out, I noticed a slight lack of high end detail (appears softer, more laid back) and a small lack of overall THEREishness, if that makes sense. When compared directly, CDs sounded more spacious and the CA sounded more like a center channel and two front surrounds, but just barely. Despite having no specs posted about it, the overall performance is so close in my (budget) system that unless I had the cd version to compare it with, I would have a difficult time hearing any deficiencies. My setup isn't mercilessly revealing and it's not terribly pricey, so others might have different opinions!

Interesting!!

I'm getting a wyred4Sound Remedy though, as an add on for my Squeezebox though.  I want to try it out. The SB was reviewed and found to have very low jitter, remarkably low jitter for a low cost product, but I'm curious.

Best,

Erik

Nope, get AV receiver instead. Integrated is going to sound better unless you go pro audio stack.

@coli I'll be honest, at the price range I'm working with, I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a receiver, integrated amp, or amp/preamp stack. I like the *idea* of a simple integrated amp the most, but I think most people wanting to spend less than $300 on an amp would be just as happy following your suggestion.

@kremrik no, not just that. With AV receiver you get room correction, bass management, upmixing, downmixing, object audio (3D audio), and some even got loudness curves (Audyssey DynamicEQ rocks, Audyssey room correction itself sucks though). Plus you don’t need to worry about interconnects. You lose a lot of quality with interconnect cables (unless you know what you are doing). Also, separates often got issues with power quality and grounding, hence all the talk about power cable, conditioner, etc, with AV receivers there will be 0 issues there. Another issue with separates is the volume control implementation, but I will stop here, don’t even get me started about input jitter and audiophile DACs...

I’ve spent a lot of money on the audiophile stack, a LOT of money. I sold it all. AV receivers are unbeatable unless you go pro audio stack. Audiophile setup is just scams in this day and age.