Is a DAC still needed?

Most CD players manufactured these days have good quality built-in DACs. Would an external DAC then becomes unneccesary?

50jess12-19-2011 4:35am

tom6897 Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 1,484 posts 12-19-2011 at 05:55am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete Yes and No. It depends upon what you want from your source. Not all CD players will have the ability to stream music from a computer or play the same types of discs. Some are more universal than others. The type of chip-set will vary as will jitter control, noise floor, reputation, etc. You should map out what you want from a player and the types of files you will likely listen to and the the connections needed to accomplish that. (CD, CD-R, SACD, HDCD, Flac, WAV, Internet Radio, iTunes, USB media, Ethernet etc.) upsampling, No-Oversampling, Hi ReZ. There is a lot to consider isn't there?
rrog Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 1,958 posts 12-19-2011 at 05:58am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete It depends on what CD player you have.
hifihvn Details Discussions Posts This discussion Message User 943 posts 12-19-2011 at 11:10am Copy Comment URL Report Comment Edit Delete If your internal DAC is better than the outboard, no. It probably doesn't matter how expensive your player is, someone may find a more expensive outboard DAC for it. But better sounding? Like Rrog said, it depends on your player. Then like Tom6897 said, there are other sources that could use one.