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Hi-fi digital front end suggestions for my system

Hi everyone,

I don't know much about PC based sources and was hoping for some suggestions on a reference quality digital front end. I would like something that sounds as good as my modded Sony XA9000es SACD player with a budget of up to $2000 or so (used). I really love my CDP for solo listening but I need a digital source for entertaining.

I have read some of the forum postings and it seems that the Apple is better suited for high end digital? Unfortunately, I have an IBM Thinkpad, so I don't know if that's a non-starter without going way over budget. Also which DAC should I get?

Regards,

Ed
latinsamba1
ejlif's avatar
ejlif
1,373 posts
 
I love the sound of my Wavelength Cosecant USB DAC. I thought it equalled the soudn of my 10K Ayre CD player.
mdconnelly
133 posts
 
Well, there's one initial choice to be made ... do you want a computer in your listening room? If so, then integrating one (Mac or PC) directly into your system using a good USB DAC would be the way to go. As I understand it, a Vista based PC will sound as good as a Mac.

However, if you don't want the computer in your listening room, then solutions such as the Squeezebox or Transporter would be the other path.

For an investment of $2k, I think you could get excellent sound quality (albeit not SACD). But you could do very well for well under $2k via a stock Squeezebox. For me, the Squeezebox is ideal for entertaining and its definitely a low cost of entry if you already have wireless networking in your home and a sizeable hard-drive on your Thinkpad (and the patience to rip your CDs). Then there are very nice mod paths for the Squeezebox to take it up to an even higher quality if you're so inclined...

Good luck and have fun!
latinsamba1 OP
74 posts
 
Thanks for the responses so far. It appears that there are two very good USB DACs in my price range - the Benchmark DAC1 and the Bel Canto DAC3. The Wavelength Cosecant seems awesome but at $3500 is out of my range.

The Bel Canto is a bit over my budget but I would willingly stretch a bit if the difference in sonic performance between the two is significant. From what I have read, the power supply and the clock are both very high end which may justify the difference in price vs. the Benchmark. In either case, I plan to run the DAC into my Manley Shrimp tube preamp, so performance as a dual purpose DAC/preamp is not really my main concern. As an added benefit would the Bel Canto substantially boost the performance of my modded XA9000es (just using the Sony as the transport)?
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