2. digital
  3. 132029-90127

Best DAC for my situation...Read on!

So thoughts and opinions please.
What I have and my idea.
Oppo 105D and Bluesound Vault 2 feeding into McIntosh C48 preamp.
I chose the C48 because it is a nice complete all in one box solution, headphone amp, mm and mc phono amp, lots of analog inputs with 2 sets of xlr inputs AND 5 total digital inputs.
Now I have both the Oppo and the vault connected by analog and digital inputs to the C48 so I can compare modes pretty instantly and I have to admit both cases the analog sounds better.
Which makes me wonder if the C48, although a great all in one solution may be the hold up as far as the DAC performance is concerned.

What I was considering as a trial is a seperate DAC that can handle the digital signals from the units and then output the analog signal via xlr preferably, back to the C48.
At this stage I have no intention of getting rid of the C48 as I really like the analog signal SQ as well as the headphone performance.

Any good suggestions in the range of $2000 used or am I really not going to see much improvement at that price range over the C48 capability?
128x128uberwaltz
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
After a lot of hours of playtime I must report to being very happy with current setup.

Exogal Comet Plus dac/preamp
BAT VK600SE power amp
Bluesound Vault 2
Wilson Witt speakers
All analog interconnects are Nordost Heimdal 
All digital interconnects are Nordost Silver Shadow
SR Black fuses in the power amp and Comet ps.


SQ? Very rich and detailed with tremendous mid bass energy and vocals to die for, just right for my rock music bent.
However I listened last night to Joe Bonamassa acoustic live at Carnegie Hall and it sent me to heaven, the strings were just liquid and the whole album passed without me moving an inch from my seating position!
Now finishing upgrading the vinyl side but that is dealt with elsewhere

mesch
3,500 posts
 
Uberwaltz, I am considering the purchase of a Vault 2. I would hope to copy my AIFF files on to the internal hard drive and rip additional CDs as purchased. Have you had any issues ripping CDs with the Vaultt? Thanks.
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz OP
13,381 posts
 
@mesch 
Absolutely none at all
Every single one including some pretty old well played ones.
Only "issue" was about 4 cds of very old and obscure British issue nature did not get correct metadata.
Easily and quickly fixed by accessing the vault hard drive from my pc and using mp3tag to fix.
That's it, takes about 7 minutes average to rip a CD to flac or wav files.
For my requirements it was the best solution and the sq via coax digital output with a Nordost silver shadow cable is better than the original CD.
I can give the unit a solid 100% recommendation.
mesch
3,500 posts
 
Thanks uberwaltz!
ptss
1,964 posts
 
More than 80% of digital component(perhaps all components in a refined system) performance is isolation and noise elimination. I recommend BEfore upgrading, audition an Equitech 2Q for about $2400 used. A permanent extreme value improvement. Good luck. Pete
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