2. digital
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DAC as an upgrade

My CD player (Denon cdrw1500) has both coaxial and optical digital output jacks.

I'm wondering if there are any issues to be concerned about with using this with a separate DAC unit rather than the Denons built in DAC.

I'm thinking that this would be a practical first step to explore the advantages of different DAC technologies with my player for now and then even provide the option to add a separate transport if needed later.

I am not very familiar with digital connector technology commonly used in audio equipment these days, so I am mainly concerned to know what DAC digital interfaces are compatible with the the Denon outputs and the differences if relevant so as to identify a DAC that will work OK.

Thanks.

128x128mapman
bjue
18 posts
 
here's the difference between DAC1 and DAC1 Deluxe:

The chassis is copper plated steel. Separate digital and analog boards - each with its own transformer - are used, along with five voltage regulators. A Crystal Semiconductor CS8412 "E" Version receiver and CS4328 DAC are used in the DAC-1. The CS4328 is an 18 bit system, which includes 8X oversampling digital interpolation followed by 64X oversampling, one-bit, delta-sigma modulation - a lot of technobabble that translates to killer sound. For $250, the standard DAC-1 can be sent back to McCormack Audio and upgraded to the Deluxe Edition which has Cardas Jacks, Caddock and Vishay resistors, some high speed, soft recovery diodes, different op-amps, and some FET current sources to push then further into Class-A operation. Our unit had these upgrades (installed before the unit was initially shipped to us), and we feel it was worth the expense.
jeffkad
211 posts
 
To the extent that you may still be interested in exploring Dacs, I am using BelCanto2 for one Sonos unit and Apogee Minidacs for two other Sonos units. Had tried a Benchmark, but felt it was not better than the Apogee. I have to say that the Apogee, which is used in pro audio (like Benchmark and Lavry), is an outstanding dac and a great value (available for roughly $800 new at B&H Photo). I have not used them as outboard for my current CDP or DVP. I had a Pioneer DVP in my HT system, but swapped that out for a used Denon 3930ci modded by Dave Shultz at the Upgrade Company. I was about to buy a used Esoteric DV50, but took a risk here since other agoners said he can make any denon sound like a 5k cdp. Apparently he benchmarks his sound against higher Esoteric models (UX??). Mine is not even broken in yet but the SQ is amazing, detail, texture, wow! Just another avenue to explore. Cerrot, I'm in Seaford LI. Where are you?
mapman's avatar
mapman OP
22,396 posts
 
Jeffkad,

Thanks for the additional info.

Ive researched both the Bel Canto and Benchmark DACs of late and both are leading contenders currently in my mind.

There is still not much I can truly fault with my stock Denon, though I'm sure I can do better or at least different in a constructive way.

I am still in the mindset that an outboard DAC could be a next logical step for me and a building block for the future. I'm also learning a lot in the process.
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