Why get a separate DAC

I own a Hegel h160, and have found my Denafrips Pontus II DAC to be superior to the internal one in the amp. It also provides more flexibility (e.g. OS/NOS, more digital input options).

This is not to disparage the HEGEL DAC at all, as it does a good job for an all-in-one integrated.

Why get a separate DAC

It’s said, digital cd transports and separate dacs, are at a disadvantage as each have their own clock (and are not syc’d together).
With a combined one box cd player there is one clock and both transport section and dac run off it (and are syc’d together).

There are some very expensive separate transport/dacs EG: DCS, Wadia etc etc that had a separate connection lead that let the transport run off the same clock as the dac, and not it’s own.

Cheers George

@novatt,

The DAC in your Hegel H120 should sound better than the internal DAC in BluOS streamer. You may prefer the BluOS app interface better / versatile compare to Hegel. If you want to keep things simple, use Spotify Connect with Hegel and call it a day.

My advise would be to enjoy Hegel H120 for now, get your feet wet with streaming. Down the road you can step up to better streamer / DAC separates.

... because of better sound coming from a better dac... or at least the prospect of it!

I use excellent power and interconnect cables on my node 2 and I haven't bothered thinking about trying a separate DAC because it sounds so good.

But my cables are extremely good and cost more than the Node 2, 

Regards - Steve