My Rotel 990 is built like a tank and has a great transport, to use it with the Synchro Mesh for 2 channel. and get the Oppo for surround-SACD, and blueray. Would I benefit from this set up for CD's or is it a minimal gain and just the Oppo for CD's as well.
Should I PURCHASE AN EXTERNAL DAC
I have been debating on whether or not to purchase an external DAC and/or update my CD/SACD equipment. Honestly I am not very knowledgeable about DAC chips and I am in need of advice. Currently I have the Pioneer DV-47A Elite for my SACD's and a Rotel RCD 990 for my CD's. All being feed thru my Marantz AV8802A pre amp. When I purchased the Pioneer and Rotel new they were considered very good equipment and had the better DAC chips at the time. I am using the DAC chip set in the Marantz for my Rotel and the DAC chip set in the Pioneer for SACD. I am considering the Oppo 205 if i decide to update, for SACD and CD's and Blue ray, (I also do home theater). Will the chip set in the Oppo or an external DAC be superior and noticeably different than my current equipment? How does it compare to the DAC in my Marantz? My budget is about $1000 for an external DAC. I am open to suggestions for equipment and any advice. I also use my computer to stream music from Amazon and Spotify (no Tidal or Roon streaming yet). thanks
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It’s hard to find a universal "transport" that doesn’t break the bank which led me to buy an OPPO 103D. It is a great machine that sounds pretty good but the reason I bought it was to pair it with my DAC. I would buy another OPPO in a heartbeat, most likely a 205.....or a "305" because I will run the 103 til it dies. I too use an OPPO for 2-channel, SACD and blu-ray, but it needs some help: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154408.0 With Synchro-Mesh, the transport does not matter. Achieves jitter of a $20K transport. ANY transport will do. The SPDIF iPurifier lowers jitter for blu-rays. For SACD, there is nothing you can do except for modding it, and that will yield only small improvement. I modded transports and DACs for 10 years myself, but I don't mod anymore. My Rotel 990 is built like a tank and has a great transport, to use it with the Synchro Mesh for 2 channel. and get the Oppo for surround-SACD, and blueray. Would I benefit from this set up for CD’s or is it a minimal gain and just the Oppo for CD’s as well? The OPPO will be necessary for SACD and blu-ray. I would highly recommend the SPDIF iPurifier to reduce jitter for blu-ray movies. You can use either transport for 2-channel if you have a Synchro-Mesh. It literally does not matter what the source is for the Synchro-Mesh. It will sound identical if you use a Sonos, cheap transport, expensive transport, ipod dock, computer laptop. Does not matter. It also galvanically isolates the transport from the DAC BTW, so eliminates that ground-loop. Steve N. Empirical Audio |
ROFL STEVE buddy ur killing all of us here! SO according to you Stereophile is full of *&^$ and the OPPO is not a class A rated audio device for 2 channel? It sounds like *&^% because of all this jitter coming from the highly re guarded ESS saber DACS? I think you need to realize that most people dont care about owning some expensive esoteric re clocker, they care about getting great sound and if its packed full of future proof stuff well all the better. I dont think making the OPPO sound like it needs something (or is missing something)..for $1200 it has everything it needs and then some! P.S. And if you want a great re clocker jitter reducer try a Monarchy Audio DIP. These work very well and are not expensive. Another highly praised product. http://www.monarchy-audio.com/Products.htm Matt M |
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