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To Dac or not to Dac

I think I have too much time on my hands but,,,,, I am currently using a Arcam FMJ DVD27a CD/DVD player and I'm toying around with the idea of adding a DAC to my system. One option I am looking at is to get the new Musical Fidelity KW DAC.Any thoughs about adding the KW Dac would be appreciated.
The rest of my system consists of B&W 802D L/R speakers. Bryston 7B-SST monoblocks and a Mcintosh MX135 pre/pro.
edkoz
unsound
7,329 posts
 
That Arcam is a pretty damn good sounding unit. You may find that it will take a pretty expensive DAC to get meaningfull improvement. Then of couse you'll need a cable. Then you might have issues with jitter and might decide uou need another device to deal with that. In the end you might discover that you have a different sound, but, not necessarilly a better one. Then there's the coming Hi Def video thing to consider. Lastly, digital gear doesn't seem to hold its value as well as other gear.
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
I agree the Arcam is a terrific player! I've spent a lot of time with one myself. I also agree you'll get a different sound with the DAC. Whether you like it will depend on your taste. I've put my $350 Audio Sector DAC up against the Arcam DV27. The owner and I both prefered the DAC over the player. We used the Arcam as a transport. The Dac was more fluid and natural than the players analog outputs IMHO. Also there was just more definition and focus between acoustic instruments. So cost isn't an issue..it is the design of the product. FWIW.. the commercial version of the DAC does retail around $1200.

Good Luck
david12
1,454 posts
 
To change the thread very slightly, is there an argument to going separate DAC and transport, because of the transport. There was an interesting letter in this months HiFi World(sensble and DIY based UK mag), bemoaning the declining quality of transports. The gist was that many expensive players(mentioned Meridian), use cheap CD Rom transports and compensate with quality reclocking and jitter circuits. The demise of many sources of transports has forced this on small, high end manufacturers. The discussion talked glowingly of older, high quality transports from TEAC in particular. It mentioned in passing than Teac still support all their old units, some newer units can't be repaired after 2 or 3 years. This route would only work for Red Book of course.
The argument is then, to use a quality, heavy duty transport from the 80's, early 90s, with one of the many, modern, quality DACs. The best of both worlds, any comments?
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