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Question on DACs...........

I am using a Cambridge Azur 840c CD player and may upgrade one of my amps (a Naim Nait 5 i) to the Supernait which has a DAC onboard. Do any of you know which might be the best route to go - bypassing the DAC in the Cambridge and using the one in the Supernait or simply using the one in the Cambridge as this player, while not expensive has a great reputation. That is using the DAC in a $1,500 piece of gear or the one in a $5000 piece.

Apparently there isn't a lot of difference between the 5i and the Supernait, the DAC being the big difference and if the DAC in the Supernait turns out to be much superior then I will upgrade.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks
thomastrouble
kbarkamian
647 posts
 
"In TAS the review on the Cambridge Azur 840c ($1,500) the reviewer states that you would need to spend $6000 to get a CD player that sounds as good as this."

I'd take that with a big grain of salt. I'm not bashing the CDP; I've never heard it. But I have a hard time believing that it would take $6k to better the 840c.

The SuperNait's DAC is excellent. If you have a dealer, you really should audition one. If not, you may want to look for a second hand one here that you can resell with little to no loss if its not worth it to you. SuperNaits rarely come up and don't last very long at all here.
newbee
4,768 posts
 
Re the TAS review, in a subsequent edition he responded to reader criticism in the letters section. Harley reminded the readers that 'of course' he could only compare the Cambridge to players he had heard and he hadn't heard all of the players in that price category. I can't recall if he even mentioned enuf of them to give a person a point of comparison. Many readers thought he was just giving an advertiser a (unmerited, perhaps) boost. FWIW.
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
Maybe I missed it, but if you had the SuperNait, what would be your digital source? Th Cambridge would be used as a transport?
thomastrouble OP
239 posts
 
To Pubul57 - I was simply going to use the Supernait as the amp and the 840 as the source. Am I missing something? Possible as I am pretty new to audio. Does this make sense?
cmalak
681 posts
 
Thomas...if you buy the Supernait and keep the Cambridge 840 CDP than you have many options:
1) You can use the 840 as transport and use it's digital out to connect to the Supernait's DAC and have the Supernait do the digital conversion
2) You can simply use the Cambridge 840 CDP as your digital source and connect it though it's analog outputs to the Supernait's line level inputs. In this configuration, the digital conversion is done by the Cambridge CDP's DAC
3) You can also connect a music server/computer and run that through the Supernait's DAC as well in which case the computer/music server becomes the transport and the digital conversion is done by the Supernait's DAC

Hope that helps.
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