I completely sold out to digital in 1989 and as time progressed, so did the quality of the CD playback I bought. Sometime in the late '90s I was listening to three pieces of digital separates (Rega transport, Genesis Time Lens, Muse Model 2 DAC) and about three or four years ago I took another plunge and bought a Maranzt SA10. This is the best CD playback I have owned yet, and depending upon the quality of the disc I am playing pack, I am highly satisfied.
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
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- 54 posts total
@facten Hello and thank you for your post! How does a manufacturer optimize one digital output over another? Why wouldn’t they want all digital outputs to sound great? I would think that by only optimizing one output you would be limiting your market base?
Best wishes, Don |
@oddiofyl Hello and thank you for your post! It’s great to know that you are hearing a much better sound from your new Teac vs the Oppo as a transport… that there is no comparison! That helps give me more faith in replacing my old Rotel 955ax with a dedicated cd transport. Im curious, are you using an external clock in addition to the Teac transport? Thank you and best wishes, Don |
Hello! Yes, I did purchase a new LTA Aero Dac. Best wishes, Don |
The better the DAC and transport usually the better.But not always. Dac and transport if you can match them with the right cabling and in your system, you will get 3D and good macro and micro dynamics.my Ares denafriifs and Yamaha s1000 with the wrong digital cable they won’t give me 3D , when I tried using my Audioquest diamond ic . It gave me 3D and dynamics.Gear can’t do it alone, you have to keep on trying different cables till you get what you want.By the way Iam using marigo apparition digital cable used. |
- 54 posts total