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ARC DAC II and Sony SCD-1: Up or Downgrade?

I am still waiting for delivery of my Magneplanar Tympanis so I have not yet finalized the purchase of my digital front end.

Some of you have suggested that the Sony SCD-1 is a great transport so I would really appreciate your advice on a used 20 bit Audio Research DAC II. They seem to be pretty cheap on the used market and it would be nice to have the cosmetics of the DAC match the faceplate of my ARC SP-11 preamp.

But how do they sound? My main obsessions are fatigue free warmth, midrange and expansive soundstaging. Could this be a nice match with a Sony SCD-1 for redbook? Or inferior to the Sony DAC? Or already obsolete without upsampling?

Any experience or advice on either of these units would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
cwlondon
mejames
986 posts
 
IMO the Sony is better than the ARC II for Red Book CD's
john_l
782 posts
 
I wouldn't bother with an external DAC. The SCD-'s redbook performance is outstanding. Let me put it this way: One of my friends had his feeding a dcs/elgar for redbook. Once in a while we were listening to the sony's output for CD and did not know it. The $12,000 DCS upsampler/dac combo DID sound better in a/b comparison.

I would use the extra cash to have the scd-1 hotrodded. I just bought an audiomoded scd-1 and it is a clear notch above my stock unit. I think the mod was $850.
arkprof
182 posts
 
The ARC DAC2 was a very good unit when it hit the market ... did it do much to improve the CD1 by ARC? Not really. Go with today's electronics ... not yesterday's, even if only three years ago ... and you'll be a lot happier.
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