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What to expect from a new DAC?

There has been a lot of discussion about whether newer DAC's/CD players are truely better sounding then older ones. I'm curious, what would one expect in terms of improvement from say a Raysonic 128, which is viewed as an excellent sounding now older CD player and say a Berkeley DAC, older version. Is the improvement, going to be subtle or really apparent.
redcarerra
davide256's avatar
davide256
399 posts
 
source is important. And disc transports are very expensive to get right vs the lesser investment required for similar performance from computer audio digital to a DAC. Think of disc transport as trying to hit a moving target vs computer audio as trying to hit a still target... the complexity for disc transport is at least double that of computer audio.
tcatman
57 posts
 
Hmm..

So, my transport is a Levinson 31 Reference DAC.... so it was very expensive (and sounds great).

My preamp is an Audio Research LS15 active preamp (tubes). I tried the passive linestage attenuator 20 years ago and found it not to be the way to go...(with lesser gear then I now use) If memory serves, the music just seemed dead. Funny how things go round and round... What's different with a passive transformer linestage ..... (at the time... I was told... well... the analog impedance matches were just not quite right and you lost too much with the passive Adcom line stage attenuator.

What I want to do now is add a USB to digital Low jitter interface for a PC server. What would be a good match for the Sonic Frontiers DAC/LS 15 combination?
tom6897's avatar
tom6897
1,484 posts
 
Steve~ what do you say about the jitter figures on this?

I just read some good buzz on the Mytek Digital Stereo 192 DAC. it upsamples to 192kHz and plays DSD files. The jitter reduction is just 10 picoseconds, which is extremely low. Can be used as a preamp with an analog, digital or bypass function, and multiple inputs and outputs. Contains the well reviewed Sabre Dac which is used by Oppo, Wyred and quite a few other well known brands.

Is source jitter still a concern if the DAC can reduce to 10PCS?
tcatman
57 posts
 
Hmm..

So, my transport is a Levinson 31 Reference DAC.... so it was very expensive (and sounds great).

My preamp is an Audio Research LS15 active preamp (tubes). I tried the passive linestage attenuator 20 years ago and found it not to be the way to go...(with lesser gear then I now use) If memory serves, the music just seemed dead. Funny how things go round and round... What's different with a passive transformer linestage ..... (at the time... I was told... well... the analog impedance matches were just not quite right and you lost too much with the passive Adcom line stage attenuator.

What I want to do now is add a USB to digital Low jitter interface for a PC server. What would be a good match for the Sonic Frontiers DAC/LS 15 combination?
tcatman
57 posts
 
Hmm..

So, my transport is a Levinson 31 Reference DAC.... so it was very expensive (and sounds great).

My preamp is an Audio Research LS15 active preamp (tubes). I tried the passive linestage attenuator 20 years ago and found it not to be the way to go...(with lesser gear then I now use) If memory serves, the music just seemed dead. Funny how things go round and round... What's different with a passive transformer linestage ..... (at the time... I was told... well... the analog impedance matches were just not quite right and you lost too much with the passive Adcom line stage attenuator.

What I want to do now is add a USB to digital Low jitter interface for a PC server. What would be a good match for the Sonic Frontiers DAC/LS 15 combination?
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