noob DAC question

Thanks to you both. Makes perfect sense, but leads to questions that further cement noobness.

Why mention built-in DAC at all? Seems implied. In fact, some descriptions lead one to believe that built-in DAC is an attractive feature. Deduction causes me to think that perhaps the answer is when built-in DAC is referenced what it means is the player also is equipped with a digital output?

As Zd542 said, a CD player is understood to have a built-in DAC, as opposed to a CD transport which provides digital output but not analog output and necessitates having an external device to do the digital to analog conversion.

I can understand your confusion, though, because sometimes when people describe their CD player as having a built-in DAC what they're really trying to describe is that it has digital input in addition to the digital and analog outputs. That allows the player to be used with input from a different digital source, such as a cable TV box, do the digital to analog conversion and output the analog signal to the rest of the system.

You didn't mention which CD player you're referring to but I suspect that, in this case, they may be referring to the player's ability to act as a standalone DAC. Meaning that it also has digital inputs and can accept digital signals from things like computers (usually USB), ipods/ipads, SqueezeBox, etc. In this case you would be using the CD player's DAC to convert the digital signal to analog. The premise being that the DAC in the player is superior to the one in the source device (may or may not be the case).

All cd players have a built in dac to generate an analog output. Some cd players allow you to bypass the dac and use the cd player as a transport to feed an outboard dac. If there is no dac involved you will not get any sound
Alan

By definition a CD Player always incorporates a DAC. If there is no DAC, then such a component would not be a CD Player, rather, it would be a CD Transport. In other words, CD Player = CD Transport + DAC. Given CD source material, one needs a DAC somewhere between the CD transport and the amplifier. The DAC you use could be the DAC in a CD player, or a standalone DAC, or a DAC incorporated in a preamplfier. So if you have a CD Player then you do not need a standalone DAC; however, it is not uncommon to use a standalone DAC even when a CD Player is available if one feels the DAC in the CD Player isn't good enough.