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2nd hand DAC for DVD/CD Player

I purchased a Pioneer DV-525K a few weeks ago to replace my ailing Sony ES. My current system is Musical Fidelity MA-65 monoblock (class a), C1 Carver Preamp, Celestion SL6si with Target Stands. When I plugged the Pioneer DVD DV-525 to my audio system and put a CD I was so disappointed with the sound!! bass is so lean and sound is so unrealistic compared it seems like it is the worse sounding CD player I have heared. I was considering a meridian, audio alchemy ddi, soundstream dac-1 or any dirt cheap dac, or musical fidelity x-dacs! What would be the best DAC under $150 used. Can a DAC really put my DVD player to life even when playing music CD's, will the 48khz DAC work with my 96-24 DVD player. I would appreciate any help since I am in-experienced when it comes to DACs. thanks.
eeugenio
joe_b
421 posts
 
A few years ago I got the urge to add a dac to my second system which resides in my home office. Due to space constraints, I intially only considered Audio Alchemy products. I tried the Dac in the box but thought it sounded like your description of the Pioneer. I then tried it with an Audio Alchemy DTI, which made it more listenable, but not what I wanted. I then tried the AA XDP, which sounded much better. Unfortunately, the XDP requires a DTI and an I2S cable, but they all available cheap on the used market. The XDP does emit some RFI, so be careful. I then auditioned the AA 3.0 when it came out, but my dealer then offered to sell me his Micromega Duo BS2 display model, which was much better than the AA 3.0. Micromega's should also be available used at a reasonable price. I believe you can set the Pioneer to transmit either 96k or 48K or less signals, so you should not have any problems interfacing it. Good luck.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
The Krell designed Soundstream is auctioned on this site a lot. A used Cambridge Audio DacMagic is another good choice.
j_k
234 posts
 
I have a Soundstream DAC1 I would sell for $100. The thing works great, I have used twice (bought to try out, but kept as spare to my existing system, but I never use it). It does work with my Sony DVD Player with optical or coax. I am selling because I am upgrading my good system to Audio Research DAC3MKII & CD2. See Audiogon Ad: http://audiogo5.iserver.net/cgi-bin/cl.pl?dgtlconv&973390323&item&class&4&zzJ_k&zzzasr4XlJpbNgs It is in perfect condition with OBM.
eeugenio OP
1 posts
 
Thank you for the advise guys!!!
whatjd
1,139 posts
 
If you talk to some of the people that make DACs..the reason the don't recommend DVD players is jitter. It is true that any DVD player will sound improved with an outboard DAC..so will any cheap cd player! Try any DAC with a great DVD player...and a great CD transport, and you will hear why high-end audio companies make cd transports...and use them at shows...Why would high-end speaker companies/wire companies and others at the high-end audio shows be using CD transports or players and not DVD players to show off the best of their product? I don't want to use the man's name.. ..because he will get too much e-mail(he owns a company that makes upsampling DACs and other products)..that he doesn't need.....but as he put it in a talk with me..."if you want to listen to music, rather than watch movies...use a cd transport for the 16/44 format (with their upsampling DAC) it will give you better sound. The trouble with DVD players is jitter..I suppose a modified Sony 7700 would be the best compromise if you had to do both in one unit".
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