Stand alone dac vs built in dac what's the better

I think the answer will depend on which stand alone dac and which built-in dac you are comparing against.

What do you have in mind?

Analog vs. Digital, Tubes vs. Solid State (see where we're going here?)......Which we be the way to go?(sic)

peach tree Idac or a integrated with a dec already built in

Day or Night?

Which we be the way to go?

The biggest advantage to an outboard DAC is the delicate circuits are well away from the noisy transport mechanism. I purchased the best sounding player I could bring home and try regardless of price, but the sound was far more enchanting with a quality DAC.
Liz also has a good point, I also plug my I-Mac and video gear including Blue-Ray into the DAC.

My DAC (DACmagic) has a couple of inputs and it really improved what I hear from my old Marantz CD changer (well made thing that refuses to die). I've A/Bd it with the iTunes lossless signal sent to my Squeezebox Touch and on to the DAC and it sounds identical using similar AQ coax cables (VDM5, VDM3). It's also nice to know there are inexpensive things you'll feel less guilty about improving along the way.

Very open ended question...guess it really dependppos on the initial quality and age of your equipment...an older cd player, especially an entry or midfi
one...could possibly benefit from an external dac...however...in my experience...the additional cost of a dac and cables didnt justify the cost...at least in a cd based system...in which technology hit a ceiling years ago...so the real future is hi rez downloads...pc media...where a hi quality dac might be beneficial

Thanks for all of you guys input

Phasecorrect said,,, " At least in a cd based system... in which technology hit a ceiling years ago ". LOL, guess he hasn't tried a high end CD player made in the last few years. I have and there's been a world of improvements in the last three years.

What Tmsorosk said about "keeping the noise away..." is the main reason to ditch the CD transport or CD player alltogether. A LINN DS unit will simply trash most CD players under $15k on the planet. I have heard it. Use DbPoweramp to rip your exisintg CDs into a NAS and use the DS with an iPad to access your entire library. Could not get any easier.

Manufacturers and dealers are the ones touting improvements...and even they concede its marginal at best even on the hi end as they have upsampled,oversampled,etc for years...but everyone wants to justify their purchase...even where so called improvements are incremental...last time I checked cd was still 16/44...

There are severe jitter issues with external dacs...which manufacturers have the upper hand controlling when designing their own players...but the future is pc/media based...where internal dacs and resolution...unlike cd...are actually improving at warp speed

Manufacturers and dealers are the ones touting improvements...and even they concede its marginal at best even on the hi end as they have upsampled,oversampled,etc for years...but everyone wants to justify their purchase...even where so called improvements are incremental...last time I checked cd was still 16/44...

A built in DAC is less prone to added jitter, and external DAC can be used with multiple sources.

Audiofreak, shouldn't you have said in your opinion, "A Linn DS unit will simply trash most CD players, I've heard the DS many times at a friends and even brought it home for a try. It wasn't even close to a mid priced CD player, very sterile sounding, in my opinion.
I 'm not sure why a hard drive music server was even brought into this post.

I find that for a lot of systems, synergy is more important than whether the DAC is integrated with the transport or on an external box.

I use a Bel Canto DAC3.5VB MkII (upgraded from a Mk I) along with a Bel Canto CD2. I found that the combo sounds very very good together. Better than when I use another brand CDPro2M transport feeding the same DAC.

Similarly, my Ayon CD5S which is a one box CD transport/DAC and preamp sounds better with its internal transport, vs an external transport.

Both have advantages, it depends on what you looking for.

Jitter is reduced or eliminated with a proper clock mechanism. In my opinion, most DACs suffer from something that most of you are aware of for pre-amps but don't apply to DACs and that is the power supply. most internal DACS have a mediocre power supply and therefore the system reponse in inadequate compared to external DACs. Although I have seen external DACs that have terrible power supplies also. Most DAC manufactures are great on the digital side but totally are lost on the analog/power supply side. Look at the major, realy great DACs out there and you will find a really high-end heavy duty power supply inside. Which is not shared with all the other stuff inside a CD player. I was sold on external DACs long ago when I compared several CD/DVD players using analog output and then ran the digital output to some really good heavy duty external DACs. Not even close. external DAC/CD transports won ever time. My advice, go borrow a really decent used DAC like a Theta DS Pro Gen Va and run your existing CD player's digital output into the DAC, then into your pre-amp, and also run the CD player's analog out into the pre-amp also and A/B compare them. you will hear an amazing difference.

enjoy