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I need help - Better DAC or NEW CD player?

I am in the middle of purchasing some components for my new system, unfortunately, reading posts on a rainy night on Audigon only makes my "upgradeatitis" syndrom more acute.

The problem is that some time ago, I bought a squeezebox Duet, to use as transport for lossless files. The idea obviously was to get a good DAC to go along with it.

The one I was almost set on was the Dacmagic, which gets very good reviews here and almost everywhere you look. But, on the other hand, I am willing to spend a little more......Now, the thing is my current CD player is a Rotel RCD 1072, and was wondering whether this Dacmagic would give me any improvements if I use the rotel as a transport for it.

Or, I could get for example a Wyred DAC or a Benchmark DAC1 and use the Rotel for transport, but I dont know the limits of the Rotel as transport alone, I dont want to spend 600 more bucks on a better DAC to be fed with 2 "not so good" transports (the Duet and the Rotel).

So I am kinda stuck!! On the other hand I am contemplating getting the Dacmagic to use only for the Duet, and getting a new better CD player altogether, which puts me into another doubt, I dont know if the little money I can for the rotel + lets say 1000 more will really give me any improvements in the system if I purchase a whole new CD player since the Rotel is said to be very capable.

FWIW my amp will be a W4S STI500 and speakers are B&W 803D.

Let me know what you think about this and your suggestions on what you would do.... thanks in advance for all your help!
demianm
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,426 posts
 
"For it to be asynchronous the dac would have to control the cpu and it does not."

I'm not sure where you're getting this stuff from. Asynchronous sampling just means that two clocks are not related. I modestly mentioned limited experience in audio but I know electronics.

Read this datasheet: http://www.analog.com/static/imported-files/data_sheets/AD1896.pdf - (upsampler used in Benchmark DAC1) and look at the title. It says "Asynchronous sample rate converter".

"Quit trying to be an armchair digital engineer by quoting specs." - you really puzzled me with this one. Now I don't know what to admire more - your ignorance or your rudeness.
4est
507 posts
 
Kijanki,
Where am I getting this stuff? I am not pretending to know all of the answers. I even claimed that I didn't know what async upsampling was. You are the one pretending that it is not possible to hear the jitter in the Benchmark or differences in digital cables on various sources as long as it is bit perfect. What is a bit perfect transport? Do you have a spidf bit perfect meter I could borrow or show me the bit perfect specification on a data sheet on a transport. Your claim that a bit perfect player shouldn't matter is useless info because they are all basically bit perfect or a program wouldn't load or DVD wouldn't play. Sure , you can alter the bits with DSP, but that is a different issue. My assertion (and may others mind you) is that digital transmission of music more delicate than you are presenting it as. As for the rudeness and ignorance, you should admire both. I held my tongue considering...
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,093 posts
 
back to the OPs question, I would go for the DAC in his case rather than a new player.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,426 posts
 
4est
Forget my comments about rudeness or ignorance - I didn't mean to offend you. As for bit perfect or not - it is "bit transparent" and no, I don't have meter but reviewers often verify it. CDP will play scratched CDs because it has very loose checksum checking and error correction and but I was talking about CDP processing alone. Some of them have digital volume control - that would make CDP not bit perfect. As long as output of two different CDPs is the same bit for bit the only difference is jitter. Benchmark supresses jitter and allows to use cheaper CDP and digital cables.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,426 posts
 
Sufentanil - That was exactly my reasoning. I have now DVD player and Airport Express (computer across the room) connected to Benchmark DAC1. According to Stereophile review Bel Canto DAC3 is better (and has remote) than Benchmark DAC1 but costs 2.5x more.
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