Players, transports, DACs ??

good question. i had the same idea (i.e. cheap trasport/good dac) when i began shopping for my front end. i learned that basically, you're screwed with crappy stuff no matter where it is in the signal chain. a high-end dac will not compensate for a mediocre transport and vice-versa.

for a given price point, it's usually better to get a very good one-box player than less good(?) digital separates. also remember that separates will require another (digital) cable which can itself be a source of sound quality degradation (not to mention that they're often $$$$).

ok

so i should go with a single cd player that still got digi out and is of good quality...

so i'll be able to upgrade DAC if i want to..
and if not i'll still have a nice cd player:p
eheh

It's true that one shitty component breaks thecomplete line..
when i was younger i was always trying to get one kick ass component to match otherstuff ( in other domain thanaudio)
but it was always in vain..and there i understand that everything needs to be of top notch to get top quality output..

eheh seems like i have to rethink of that again!:p
and apply it!

thanks guys:)

I agree with all of the statements above. Unfortunately, economics comes into play.

Most "one boxes" are built to a price point that is typically a little lower than a seperate DAC and Transport of the same appr retail. The "player" will typically use one power supply to feed both units whereas the two seperates will have their own power sources. Since much of digital is power supply related, seperates are typically slightly ahead right off the bat. This is not to say that a single box player can't be built to a higher standard. Obviously this is quite possible but also costs more money and chassis space.

If i had my choice, i would build / buy the best one box ( transport & DAC ) that could read CD's, DVD's, SACD's, etc... that i could afford. To further improve this, i would use a seperate box for a hefty power supply that was highly shielded and filtered. I'm waiting on a "one off" unit from a custom builder that is exactly as described. Unfortunately, the builder is not exactly "fast", so i'll probably be waiting a while. Sean
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