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What the benifit of using a separate dac?

Hi, I have a Sim Audio Moon Exclipse Cd Player, my question is what's the benifit of using a separate DAC, when do you know that your player is out dated to the point that you need to upgrade or are you better to use a external dac.Using the digital out put of the cd player are you by passing all internal clock and dac's etc, then the player becomes just a transport? Is there is a benifit to be gained by doing this, what sort of dac would you look for, what the differance between the better brands? I currently have Pass labs X1 pre and x350.5 power, mit 3.1 speaker cables, 2.2 interconnects and Talon firebird speaker, Iam only interested in red book, would be great if any body could shed some light on this subject for me.
k_rose
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
This is the way I would approach it. Look for two or three DAC's with high jitter immunity first and foremost. Those that have a few years under their belts (not just a recent one with a rave review but DAC's with many happy users and a resale value that holds up). Try 'em out and make your own mind up. FWIW differences are subtle and there are many good options out there - will any of them defeat your standalone player in your home with your power...only by careful A/B yourself can you decide that.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Obviously it depends on the quality of the DAC built into your player. There is no logical reason why a DAC housed in a separate chassis should be better.

Take care before you spend money. D/A converters have been greatly improved in the last few years, and lowered in cost. Today's moderately priced component probably outperforms the best of a few years ago.
jax2
3,031 posts
 
As suggested already, that would depend entirely upon the quality of the respective DAC's (and with the separate DAC, marginally upon the cord between transport and DAC). Also the separate DAC may take advantage of its own isolated power supply, FWIW. One other advantage of a separate DAC is the ability to take advantage of PC Audio which arguably can sound superior to redbook. Certainly the Modwright Transporter I use sounds better than any redbook player I've ever owned, and that is essentially a separate DAC combined with a music server. Unless your player has a digital input (not that many do), you will not be able to use the internal DAC for PC audio purposes. There are a few companies that offer a 30-day trial period. The highly acclaimed Benchmark DAC1 might be a place to start, but my experience is, well, I returned mine. YMMV as plenty of folks seem to like them. Only disadvantage there is that there is only 30-days for burn-in (enough time if you are vigilant about it).
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kijanki
4,432 posts
 
1. To be independant of the transport (things break)
2. To play other formats
3. Connect computer (server)
4. Connect DVD and DTV (use cheap DVD player with jitter rejecting DAC)

DACs with jitter rejection (upsampling) are nice - they allow to use cheap transport and cable but some people prefare non-oversampling sound.

I have Benchmark connected directly to power amp (it has volume control) with one input connected to DVD player (coax) and the other to DTV (toslink). I plan to connect third input to my computer.

Benchmark is on neutral/revealing side (not warm) while more expensive Bel Canto DAC3 is a little more "organic" - check reviews of both on the web (stereophile.com)
Benchmark has 30 day free try-out program and Bel Canto might have as well. If you decide to get Benchmark buy new and the latest - possibly DAC1 USB ($300 more) since it has better XLR output drivers.
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