DAC Confusion


Just picked up a used Bluesound N100 at a local HiFi store in my parts that was listed here. Mentioned to the sales guy that I am starting fresh with a new system and need amplification. He suggested an integrated amp with a built-in DAC (NAD 368). Here’s my question: aside from the relative merits of that NAD unit, why would I need a built-in DAC when the N100 has its own DAC? He claimed the NAD DAC is superior to the one in the N100 and thus worth the extra $ I’d be paying compared with an integrated without a DAC. Hmmmm.... really? I know there can be qualitative, significant differences in performance between DACs, but between the one in the NAD 368 vs the N100? I’m a bit skeptical, and he didn’t seem too eager to let me do a listening test.

Bottom line, I gotta buy an integrated and my shelf space (and budget) is a bit tight, so if I’m gonna go the “Swiss army knife” route (to borrow a phrase from a related thread), it’s gonna be for a built-in phono stage for my LPs, not a redundant built-in DAC.

BTW, this will be driving a pair of efficient bookshelf speakers so I don’t need a ton of power. Of course, I mentioned that to the sales guy and he argued that I should buy as much power now as I could afford, to “future-proof” my purchase in case I decide to upgrade to more difficult-to-drive speakers later on. 

That’s when I left the store ;)

Sorry for the long-winded post. I’m a newbie and my head is spinning a bit over all of this.


128x128davidb928
As the 3020v2 comes with a inbuilt DAC anyway if you went that route it would be real easy to a-b the two DAC.

Hook up with RCA cables and a digital cable too( spdif or toslink).
Then you can flip flop back and forth between them to see which you prefer.

Although I do agree that neither are state of the art, they may be enough for your present needs and it’s so easy and relatively cheap to upgrade to a Better DAC anyway.
Thanks Uberwaltz, all good points. But stop the presses! Peachtree Audio Nova 220SE on auction site for $500+ and counting. At 220 watts, this could be the last amp I ever need, setting me up for future upgrade to more demanding floorstanding speakers. It doesn’t have a phono stage but that can be had for not much of an added investment.

I will be watching this auction closely. Gotta figure it’s at least worth the $600 I’d spend on the PS Audio and probably a bit more than that for the MUCH more powerful amp stage....
Well if you are wanting THAT much power then yes the Nova is a great buy.
I also have one of those in my second system......

Seriously good value for money, mine is a slightly older Nova and I swapped the tube out in the preamp section so not quite apples for Apple’s comparison now.
Plenty of inputs, sub out, headphones out and yep plenty of power.
I honestly think it is a little on the bright side but that could also be the Tannoy speakers it is hooked up to.
I can say it's DAC is very good, I feed it the Bluesound signal via toslink.

Sources for this are Bluesound vault2, Nakamichi cassette deck and an old Sony Discman donated by our very own resident GK!

I think it is likely to hit between 7 and 800 and if you have that budget then go for it. Also a new one listed for 1099.
You could probably pick up a decent used phono stage for less than $200.
Uberwaltz, do you use that Sonos internal dock? Just curious how that works with your system.