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Should I add a DAC ?

Hi,

I have a Shanling CD-S100 cdp which is exactly the same as the Music Hall 25, these are the specs:

1. HDCD decoding chip
2. Burr-Brown 1732 24-bit/96kHz DAC
3. Philips CDM-12.1 transport controlled by a CD-7mkII servo
4. Thick brushed-aluminum front plate and solid chassis
5. Two digital outputs; 1 x coaxial and 1 x optical
6. Standard analog output
7. The OPA 2134 op amps are used for the output stage and low pass filtering
8. Full remote-control operation
9. High quality remote control
10. Easily readable and dimmable florescent display
11. Detachable power cord

Would adding a cheap DAC like the Channel Island Audio VDA-1 24/96 make an improvement ?

Thks,
foxtrot
grege
47 posts
 
>>Would adding a cheap DAC like the Channel Island Audio VDA-1 24/96 make an improvement ?

No. Go spend any extra $$ on improving your room acoustics.

Except for the non-oversampling, filterless DACs, they all sound very close.
photon46
1,086 posts
 
You would have to purchase a well designed dac in the $1200-1500 list price range before you'd start hearing substantive improvements, assuming the rest of the system is revealing enough.
tfkaudio
591 posts
 
I concur with the prior responses. Underneath the hood of many DACs is the same hardware that is in your CD player. You would have to spend goofy money to get an improvement worth writing home about. I think the $1200-1500 figure in the previous post may be low.
Demo some good speaker cables if you can, or upgrade speakers, or improve the room acoustics.
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