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Dedicated CD Transport vs DAC

Greetings,

Just some honest questions...

In your opinion, based on what you have actually experienced....

1)  Which accounts for the most sonic improvement?  A quality dedicated CD Transport or a Quality DAC?

2)  If a person could assign a percentage... by what % did your cd transport improve your sound?  By what % did your new dac improve your sound?

3)  If you honestly gained an improvement in sound... was it like, " Oh my God, I can't believe how great this improvement is " or is it more like, " I can hear an improvement but no wheres nearly commensurate with the increase in price it cost me."

Coming from being highly invested in vinyl playback for the last 50 years... I'm struggling trying to decide how to improve the cd playback side of my system.

Up to this point in time, I've usually found cd playback to oftentimes sound hard, glaring, sterile, two dimensional, etc.

Which in your mind, helps to eliminate the above sound qualities that I dislike?  A new dedicated cd transport or a new dac?

Thanks much for taking the time to reply and help me better understand!

Best wishes,

Don

 

no_regrets
ghdprentice
7,035 posts
 

DAC. It will depend on the rest of your system, how well you choose your components and the rest of your system. Provided you are doing your research and investing similarly for both, maybe ~ 70% DAC.

But you really want a great DAC since it is the foundation for streaming which should be available at comparable prices and sound quality as a good transport. Moving to streaming and skipping CDs and stored files makes sense today.

dwest1023
209 posts
 

I have owned many DACs, streamers. My first very good dac was the Schitt YGGY. From there Denafrips, Pontus, and Terminator 12th. Streamer, every Eversolo model , Hi Rose 130,Aurender n200 and N20. My experience is this. The Dac makes the most difference. However I found it not about being better, it PRESENTATION. It’s what sounds good to you. For example the terminator is,more expensive than the Pontus, but I, preferred its sound over the more expensive terminator. Having said that I purchased a Holo May Kte and that was end game for me. It greatly improved the sound of my Cd transport and streamer. 
I preferred the the Eversolo A8 over the Hi Rose 130. I ended up buying N20 after purchasing the N200. The N20 was endgame for me as it was the best sounding to my ears then all the others. That’s my journey. 

 

oddiofyl's avatar
oddiofyl
3,882 posts
 

DAC , absolutely but I just added a Teac VRDS 701T and it is much better sounding as the OPPO 103 I was using.   No comparison.    The OPPO sounded small and closed in , the Teac sounds huge with tons of detail.    Not subtle.  

mesch
3,506 posts
 

I thought you purchased the LTA Areo DAC?  Aren't you also interested in the Jay's CD2MK3?

glennewdick's avatar
glennewdick
1,689 posts
 

Assuming you mean a CD player and not "quality dedicated CD Transport " as Transports do not have much of a sound on their own as they do not have a DAC in them.  

From my experience if the Transport is decent enough not to put errors or other anomalies on the output then the DAC is the go-to place for sound quality.  

I f you have a good CD player or transport now, upgrading the DAC will be the largest improvement in sound quality. Do not skimp on a DAC cheap ones will not get you close to your vinyl rig. Good ones will get you there or beyond. 

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