DAC as an upgrade

Cerrot,

I'm with you regarding what makes for a good listening experience.

"RH said that with each component a window pane is added"

True, but with digital, it doesn't take a component to do this. A lot can happen within a tiny chip embedded within that component, similar to like a function within a larger computer program.

For example, what you hear when the digital signal is upsampled, interpolated and perhaps dithered is not what you would hear at the original sampling frequency. That is a type of signal processing enhancement designed explicitly to make the signal sound different in a better way.

If the detail is missing in those original bits recorded however, no processing after the fact can bring them back. All that can be done is either leave it as is or play signal processing tricks to make it sound more digestible before hitting the DAC.

Then of course, the DAC is the device that has to take the digital bits and accurately construct the waveform. There is a lot technically that can go right or wrong here that can also make a big difference in resulting sound, but the DAC as well cannot recover bits of information that were not there in the first place.

Mapman,

Absolutely, 1000% agreed. Personally, I think the digital medium is crap. I fought CD's for years. Back in the 80's, I was kind of insulted when I started seeing CD's for sale in my local record shop. I thought that they should be sold in a softwear store, not a record store.

I know that vinyl is far superior and my modest TNT turntable still blows away my CD rig. BUT, convenience and availabilty and my unfortunate neverending quest for trying to make sense of the silver disc has prevailed, and I felt I had no choice to accept the the CD. I am finally happy with my CD playback, though I know (1) vinyl is still better (warmer, more real, just a truer sense of actually experiencing the performancd) and, (2) somewhere out there (at probably $60,000+) is a CD player that will bring me closer. I do feel that if technology isn't there now, it wil be in a few years, where the gap between vinyl and CD will be greatly deminished (or, at least, I hope).

SACD has been a pretty good experience for me with the Esoteric. While still different from vinyl, I actually enjoy listening to music in that format and do have the little hairs stand on my neck during a great recording. I understand that it is still an unnatural medium, but, at times, I am tired of the 20 minute ritual of cleaning a record for 30 minutes of playing. But, there is something truly magical about vinyl.

I really do think, though, that an outboard, good dac, will make the CD experience better for you. If you're ever on Long Island, NY, please come by for a listen.

Meanwhile, right now I'm watching a Three Dog Night Live DVD playing on the Marantz DV-4200 DVD player in my separate 2 channel A/V system (vintage Yamaha receiver driving Triangle Titus 202 + M&K sub) and its sounding pretty sweet. Digital can be pretty darn good when done right.

It really can be. If you haven't heard the new audio codecs on Blu Ray (or HD DVD), it's simply remarkable (True HD Master Audio, etc). I never realized dolby digital was compressed until we upgraded to Blu Ray. I hope for some nice Blu ray converts in the future.

Enjoy your music.

Blu Ray is an interesting technology to keep an eye on.

Can it do for digital audio what it does for video? I would have to think so.

HD DVD isn't going anywhere at this point, is it?

I wonder if there is an audio only format in the works for Blu Ray? That could be something.