TO DAC OR NOT TO DAC?

Micromega has a nice transport and some good DAC can bring more music than the CD player as whole. I've never tried Music Fidelity DAC, but you can shop arround used CAL or EAD DSP7000(the one I have). EAD DSP7000 is available at measurable prices here on audiogon and deserves the best respect about built quality and performance.

While I have not heard the Micromega Stage I, I have owned 2 Micromega (Duo BS2 and Microdac) dacs for years. About 1 and 1/2 years ago I got the upgrade bug and since then I have bought three 24/96 dacs (MSB, Bel Canto and Art DI/O) and one 18 bit dac (Cal Sigma). All 4 had more detail than the aging Micromegas, but none of them was more muscially satisfying to listen to. All of them introduced some form of electronic coloration to the sound that was not there with the Micromega. If you like the sound of the Micromega, to find something that betters it is going to cost alot. I haven't heard the Muscial Fidelity, but would not buy one w/o a right of return.

I've never listened via an external dac. Therefore, of course I do not believe one needs the expense of an external dac. If the opposite were true I'd own one and my opinion would be different. :)

In all seriousness, I agree with the poster above that if you put your money into one appropriate cd player, then you probably have just as good or maybe even better with less clutter and cabling.

-IMO

Forgot to mention that the only single box cd player I have heard recently that impressed me was the Cary. I think it was the model#cd306.

According to Ed Meitner, using an outboard DAC increases jitter dramatically. He stated in an article online that the output interface circuit/cable/input interface circuit cause more jitter than any other cause, even the transport.In his opinion, a single box player with a good DAC stage is superior in performance to outboard units. This digital transfer timing error problem(jitter) is the reason you need a digital correction engine when you use an outboard DAC. The transfer induced jitter in two box systems is present no matter how good(or expensive) the transport and DAC may be. Unless the DAC has a digital correction engine built-in. Since jitter is one of the major offensive aspects of digital sound, it seems like a poor choice unless you are going to use a DCE along with the package. For the people going whole-hog with an Elgar or something, this is not a problem because the price of an extra DCE is negligable compared to the costs involved.(I don't know if the Elgar has a built in DCE or not) It would seem to me that for the price of one of these $12k DACs, you could find a one box player that has an excellent DAC stage that wouldn't create this jitter problem in the first place.