I was slightly surprised that there isn't a very large selection of CD player/DAC combos out there. Yamaha, Marantz, Musical Fidelity, and a few others make them, but not many other companies. It seems like building a cd player into a DAC makes a lot of sense, like an integrated amp. Can anyone recommend one these? My budget would $3000 tops. Thanks, J
I had a Krell S350 CD player with built in DAC( think just 2 digital inputs). I do remember it sounding very very good and built like a tank ( 45lb weight if my memory serves me). However used only available but extremely well built and fairly priced.
Prior to that I had a dcs p8 CD/dac. Truly stunning and also could be used as a preamp.
There are a number of good used options out there.
Now with that said I presently use an old Pioneer DVD/sacd player...lol. Using it in analog output to my Ayre amp as sacd does not output from its spdif digital output. Just CD layer plays through the spdif output.
I use an old onkyo sacd /cd that has a wolfson dac which always sounded pretty good. I also have an old pioneer dvd/sacd that has been in a closet for a few years it has a good sound as well I think it had wolfson. Only thing about the pioneer it took about an hour to load anything, well seemed like an hour. For less than 3k there is also rega, creek or nad you can get new as well as the ones already mentioned.
I use a Pioneer Elite CD/DVD-A/SACD Player, vintage 2004, in my surround system, paired with a Pioneer Elite receiver that uses an “I link” to pair the two. It’s a remarkably good system for “mid-Fi” gear.
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