noob DAC question

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.

If you have a choice allways buy a seperate amplifier,I donot care for dac included in amp for it is limited ,buy the best Dac you can afford.the dac is what will dictate in part tonal balance, detail,it is First before going to a preamplifier ,receiver you Cannot make up for detail later,once it is lost it is gone. That is why I try to buy the best dac I can afford if building a digital
Library ,buy a Big external drive 2 terabyte is so great value.seperate power supply is better - plug in less noise.
Wav files are best totally uncompressed,flac is second. My uncle is a recording engineer with over 30 years in the field. The new DSD downloads
Are tops, if you are buying a new dac you are better off waiting to buy a new dac with DSD capabilities for it is becoming more popular by the week.
And sacd is a DSD recording.Apple format can be converted to wav or flac files,the most accurate program around $40is DB Poweramp which accurately rips cds to digital files, and will convert any file format
Essential for any quality playback.