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Linn Unidisk SC as DAC

I've read with interest the discussion here about streaming audio, jitter, DACs, etc.

I am considering a Linn Unidisc SC to use as a disk player and preamp along with Linn amps actively driving Linn speakers. One of the appealing things about it is that it has digital inputs and can serve as a DAC.

Has anyone used the Unidisk SC as a DAC, and how would you compare to other quality DACs discussed in these forums? It has optical and coax SPDIF inputs. If it does a good job as a DAC it seems like an opportunity to simplify and "converge" my system using a streaming audio device like the Squeezebox or Sonos.

Thanks
bmdduck
cgw
29 posts
 
I use a Cary 306/200 as a DAC and a CD player. I am sure your results would be as positive as mine! The Cary was much better than the Lavry DA10 that it replaced or the CEC DA53 that I demoed.

I did find it was worth getting a good audio card (RME HDSP 9623) to help reduce the jitter and minimize computer setup issues. The PC still needs to be setup correctly. I recommend JRiver's Media Center using ASIO to bypass Windows problems.

I have not yet tried a Squeezebox or Sonos. I do not know how bad the jitter issue would be.
bmdduck OP
99 posts
 
Thanks for the reply. I started down the road of getting my PC set up with JRiver and an Echo Gina sound card. I may still use that in a secondary system but I'm now thinking about the Squeezebox primarily to get the PC out of the listening room and bypassing all of the soundcard driver/kmixer problems. According to audioengineer the SB is pretty decent stock in terms of jitter.

I'm glad to here that using a good CDP with digital input works pretty well. I would like to keep the system simple with as few components as necessary. It seems a little redundant to have a good disk player and DAC, although it seems like a lot of people here are getting rid of their transports in favor of high end PC systems.
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