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Is there any way I can use my cd player as DAC?

I have a Sony SCD XA-9000es CD player and I am building a music server using a computer and a outboard DAC. My questions are: 1). Is there any way that I can use the player's DAC since I think the player is pretty good and its DAC quality should be above many standalone DACs? If there is no digital input for this player, is it possible to add an input by DIY or have some company modify it? 2). Is it a good idea to use the player's digital output connecting a computer to rip music file since the player's CD drive is much superior than a computer's CD/DVD drive? If this does not make any significant improvement, why are so many hi-end manufactures willing to spend money to improve the mechanism and built the drive like a tank, such as Esoteric or Classe? I don't know the technology much and hope anybody can give me answer for my questions.

Best Regards

Patrick Wang
patrickwang
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Sounds unlikely with your Sony, since a "digital-in" is essential. You'll probably improve the Sony with an external DAC, like the Bel Canto DAC3 or the Benchmark.

The DAC is very important, I'd focus on that prior to trying to improve the transport, OR get an excellent transport (like an Esoteric) with an excellent DAC that can be used with other digital systems.

Dave
Post removed 
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
There's an exception to every rule. The Playback Designs MPS-5 apparently has a stellar DAC, transport and output stages. That's a different price range from what we're talking about here; however, you could spend much more on a dCS "stack" and perhaps not exceed it.

Dave
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