Using a DAC with the Esoteric DV-50


Has anyone tried using an external dac with the DV-50 to improve redbook performance? I am currently using a Tri-Vista 21 with the Sony XA-SCD 777ES and getting excellent results. The Sony's dac's already does internal upsampling (not to the level of the DV-50)and ofer incredible resolution. But the Sony by itself lacks a little body in the mid-range and treble and lacks a palpable "presence" with vocals.

The strong points of the Sony are its bass response, transparency, detail and wide soundstage. It seems like the DV-50 shares Seems like these are the same general characterisitcs of the DV-50. I also have an older Goldmund dac that is very good.

I'm wondering if the dac is overkill because the DV-50 already upsamples to some un-godly rate and has multiple filters. On the other hand, the DV-50 (at least in theory) should serve as an excellent transport.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

truaudiophile
tough call. the esoteric is such a nice piece along with the tri vista sacd player. sony makes a good transport but the sound quality in cd playback (without any external dac) is pretty bad (any sony: scd1, 777es, 9000es, etc...) but with a dac or with mods, they can be very good. try auditioning the esoteric and others inhome and compare to your setup. of course, the above statements are my personal opinions.
Truaudiophile,

Since you have an older Goldmund DAC, why don't you give it a try? The leading Japanese audio Magazine Stereo Sound did a group test last year with the TEAC connected to a Goldmund DAC, which seemed to work fine.