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Separate Transport & DAC: Why not?

Hello: While searching related topics I've run across a growing number of posts that discourage the notion of a separate transport and dac. The most common reasons given has to do with "more": more wires, longer, more complex signal path, etc. What are your opinions, pro and con and the reasoning behind them? If, though, this topic has been already addressed in detail, perhaps someone has post a link to that thread? FWIW, I've come across a great Pass Labs D1 and I'm wondering whether I should find a nice transport or perhaps sell the D1 and buy a CD player. Thanks!
veloceracing
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
For the past four years I've only used separate transports and DACs because I liked the flexibility of being able to change DACs and cables whenever I found something that I thought might work better.

Lately I've had my eye on the different modified one-box Denon and Sony universal players from APL, eXemplar and Modwright.

Bottom line, you'll get many different opinions, but there are many quality choices no matter which path you choose.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
In addition to real estate and cost of a digital cable, there are also potential jitter problems. Some solve that with a dejitterer ;-) but now you've got 3 boxes and 2 digital cables. I know that I tried that route and eventually went back to a one-box.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
The power supply and space to do it right are advantages of separate DAC. It can also be battery-powered. Tough to do this with a player. Also, a DAC is an easy transition to computer-driven audio, which can be superior to ANY player and actually more convenient.
philipma1957
2 posts
 
i had a separate transport and dac the plus side it sounds better. the down side mor cables both power and rca digital coaxs .i had trouble with ground loops etc. but when i finally set it up right it sounded better. i used a marantz as a transport a dip umpsampler for anti jitter and a msb dac and power supply the setup with cables cost about 1400. anothe plus side is if any single component breaks it is cheaper to replace. right now i have a modified pioneer because i listen to cds, sacds, audio dvds and movies. but i rather have this pioneer and the transport and dac for cds only
cmk
397 posts
 
I'm a believer in separates, tried CDPs and separates from the same brand and found that even though the DAC section is the same, there is a marked improvement in detail retrieval and resolution when going separate.

Now with the so reasonably priced Benchmark DAC1, I see no reason for anyone to go separate if you've got a half decent budget. Just get a half decent transport(DVDP), even one that outputs high resolution 24/96 in digital if possible, and you should get pretty good sound.
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