TO DAC OR NOT TO DAC?

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.

Twl answered some of my questions, thanks. Although the MF DAC is closer to 1k, adding a dac also requires finding the right cable and if a jitter reduction device is added, thats two cables and a lot of electronics added to your chain. If the MF DAC has its own jitter correction (dont know) it might be cost effective. I like Musical Fidelity products and use a MF CDP, so I dont mean to sound negative about this DAC.

So, if I have all this correct: If the Musical Fidelity has a digital correction engine, then this might be $1200 (less discount of course) very well spent. Also: forgive my ignorance, but I do not understand what jitter is, and how it is manifested in the music. How does it effect the music?

Single box players often have a "forgiving DAC-transport combination" making us believe that the jitter is on its possible minimum. In real life the jitter does exist on one-box players as well. Following the logic, when the one-box CD player is assembled it's being tested as whole in most cases. That's why very often it's not successful to mate one box CD-player with external DAC. If the dedicated high quality transport and DAC is used that can produce better results than CD player alone. Micromega is one of several inexpencive(as used) players that can be successfully used as a transport even without correction engine. For most of us(I believe) the digital correction engine, jitter reducer, or else-how-named device is some magic box. I consider this kind of product as "shaper" that works on whatever doesn't look standard and wheather or not it's better to "shape" it or leave it "unstandard" our ears decide. In case of high quality transport-DAC combo above mentioned "shaper" can only damage the sound. Meaning it might successfully work with mid-fi-ish player-DAC combos.