DAC experience/suggestions?

Timothy Smith
Timothy Smith Posts: 764
edited May 2011 in The Clubhouse
I am currently using a Rotel RCD-1070 to play CD's in my system, and a few people have told me that my next step up the sound quality ladder is to add an outboard DAC.

I could use either the digital output of the Rotel, or even buy a separate transport (a friend loaned me a transport, but I would have to buy a DAC to even try it out.

A Musical Fidelity V-DAC @ $300 looks like a possible choice. Good reviews and within my budget. Maybe I could even find a used one (almost everything in my system was purchased used on CL or from friends).

Have members found that an inexpensive DAC has made a noticeable improvement in sound quality?

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Norh ACA-2B tube pre, Sumo Andromeda SS amp. Magneplanar MMG speakers, M&K MX1250 Subwoofer, Pro-Ject RM1.3 Genie TT with Sumiko Pearl MM cart., Keces DAC, Cambridge Audio Azur 640c CD player
Post edited by Timothy Smith on
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Comments

  • fbm211
    fbm211 Posts: 1,488
    edited May 2011
    I went to a seperate transport and dac as well as a resolution enhancer and never looked back.There are a couple adcom units (the 600 and 700) on audiogon and a good deal on this>> http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlconv&1310223481&/Audio-Alchemy-DDE-V1.0
    SDA-2BTL with custom IC
    Adcom 565 monoblocks--Monarchy Audio M-10 preamp
    Theta Data Basic Transport--Stello DA100 Signature DAC--Camelot Dragon Pro2 MK III
    Harman Kardon T-55c TT
    DH Labs Q-10 Signature Speaker Cables With Furez silver plated copper bananas
    Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy Cryo-Silver Reference AES/EBU
    Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy Cryo-Silver i2s digital cable
    4 Furutech FP-314Ag with FI-11cu Plugs/FI-11AG IECs--- Power Cords
    DH LABS REVELATIONS ICs-amps
    Revelation Audio Labs Paradise cryo-silver ICs-Source to pre
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited May 2011
    My opinion, a $300 DAC won't be an improvement over a Rotel 1070. $1000 and up DAC, then you'll hear some improvements.

    Some perspective;
    When I compare my $699 C.E.C. CD-3300 cd player's analog output, versus it bing connected digitally to my Benchmark DAC1/PRE--there's nothing monumental happening. Sure the BM is more articulate, blacker background, wider/deeper soundstage, deliniates performers/instruments, and provides a little more punch---the improvements are somewhat subtle in nature. The C.E.C. is more casual and darker sounding through it's analog outs.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,601
    edited May 2011
    Ok, time for a change.
    Buy a DAC, rip your cd's in lossless, and live a little.
    Sell the Rotel. set up your NAS or server.

    Don't mind me, I'm just causing trouble.

    It's going to take a pretty good DAC to better the Rotel.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
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  • polkfarmboy
    polkfarmboy Posts: 5,703
    edited May 2011
    I am in the same position as you Tim and like steve said you gota go up to the 4 figure club for the big improvement . I cant afford to buy a dac like that so I bought a logitech squeezebox touch and downloaded some 24 bit tunes from hdtracks.com . The combination of the squeezebox's dac and high res music makes my marantz cdp sound lame, a very good investment until I can afford a good dac

    If you ever did splurge then I recommend the w4s dac 1 or dac 2 as alot of the residents of cp are loving them
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  • danger boy
    danger boy Posts: 15,722
    edited May 2011
    if your Rotel has a digital output. a DAC hooked up to that should make a nice improvement... not all DAC's have to cost $1000 to be good. I suggest a tube DAC of some kind.. you can then tailor the sound to your liking..
    PolkFest 2012, who's going>?
    Vancouver, Canada Sept 30th, 2012 - Madonna concert :cheesygrin:
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  • BlueFox
    BlueFox Posts: 15,251
    edited May 2011
    danger boy wrote: »
    ...not all DAC's have to cost $1000 to be good.

    That is true. At that point, you are entering into the "better" zone. At around $50K you are in the "best" zone. :wink:
    Lumin X1 file player, Westminster Labs interconnect cable
    Sony XA-5400ES SACD; Pass XP-22 pre; X600.5 amps
    Magico S5 MKII Mcast Rose speakers; SPOD spikes

    Shunyata Triton v3/Typhon QR on source, Denali 2000 (2) on amps
    Shunyata Sigma XLR analog ICs, Sigma speaker cables
    Shunyata Sigma HC (2), Sigma Analog, Sigma Digital, Z Anaconda (3) power cables

    Mapleshade Samson V.3 four shelf solid maple rack, Micropoint brass footers
    Three 20 amp circuits.
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  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,601
    edited May 2011
    I had a Halcro preamp here for about a week. $10k preamp.
    The built in DAC defined the word STERILE. Glad is wasn't staying.
    DACS are the hardest thing to get the straight scoop on.
    Most of the time the only way to go is to plunge in.
    Other common thing, flavor of the month. There's a
    new DAC (most of the time, CHINESE) and everybody falls in love.
    Better than sliced bread. Then the real reviews start to filter in.
    Always-good value for the money. Sounds good, but I want a little
    more than that. There's hundreds of $200-500 DACs out there.
    Dozens of $500-1000 with only a few people chiming in with a review.
    Most have never listened to anything but the one they bought.
    Then there's those "stereophile reviewed" DACs in that magic $1k+
    range that gets rave reviews. Good luck hearing one before you buy it.
    Welcome to the world of DACs.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
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  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,601
    edited May 2011
    danger boy wrote: »
    if your Rotel has a digital output. a DAC hooked up to that should make a nice improvement... not all DAC's have to cost $1000 to be good. I suggest a tube DAC of some kind.. you can then tailor the sound to your liking..

    And not all DACS, including $1k ones, will sound better than the Rotel.
    Tubes in DACS don't do a damn thing for me. This is normally one place I want
    to be tube free.That's what the tube preamp is for.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited May 2011
    a $1000+ DAC would be needed to surpass his Rotels performance, IMO.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • FTGV
    FTGV Posts: 3,649
    edited May 2011
    steveinaz wrote: »
    a $1000+ DAC would be needed to surpass his Rotels performance, IMO.
    Maybe ,maybe not.While the Rotel uses very respectable opamps for the very important analog output stage they are coupled to the output through cheap electrolytic caps. The D-A chip is of the rather ordinary voltage output variety.
    There are a number of sub $1000 separate Dac units like the Musical Fidelity( M1)Simaudio (100D),PS Audio (DLIII) that with their better analog stage/power supply design and superior digital design with the use of dual differential D-A chips very well could IMO offer an audible upgrade over the Rotel.In fact I wouldn't bet against some of the better legacy dac's like the already mentioned Adcom's ,Monarchy's, Theta's that would'nt outshine the Rotel or atleast offer a different flavour.
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  • PolkClyde
    PolkClyde Posts: 662
    edited May 2011
    danger boy wrote: »
    a DAC hooked up to that should make a nice improvement... not all DAC's have to cost $1000 to be good.

    That's true.I paid $700.00 for my Audio Alchemy dac, back in 1996,and it blows my Oppo 95(Blu-ray Player) Audio out of the water..but now, I'm getting into HDAudio via a Thumb Drive,which is awesome with the Oppo95.
    PolkAudioClyde
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  • SCompRacer
    SCompRacer Posts: 8,492
    edited May 2011
    I really like my Music Hall 25.3 DAC with a Mullard 6DJ8 tube. $600 list.
    Salk SoundScape 8's * Audio Research Reference 3 * Bottlehead Eros Phono * Park's Audio Budgie SUT * Krell KSA-250 * Harmonic Technology Pro 9+ * Signature Series Sonore Music Server w/Deux PS * Roon * Gustard R26 DAC / Singxer SU-6 DDC * Heavy Plinth Lenco L75 Idler Drive * AA MG-1 Linear Air Bearing Arm * AT33PTG/II & Denon 103R * Richard Gray 600S * NHT B-12d subs * GIK Acoustic Treatments * Sennheiser HD650 *
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  • jaritta
    jaritta Posts: 277
    edited May 2011
    I beleive jolita makes a great dac for about 350...my boss has it attached to his rig...which consists of studio electric speakers and amp.(about a 6-7K setup) we noticed a big improvement....yeah there are more expensive dacs (like the audionote dac) but we couldnt beat the bang-for-buck with anyother dac out there. Sorry i cant remember the model number but i know that it is a jollita tube dac. and it ran about 350-375 ish range.
    Harman kardon signature 2.1 amp
    Denon 3312
    Epson 8700ub
    Chief mount
    Screen Innovations Performance Series 110in
    Kef q 500 (RL)
    Kef q 200 (C)
    Kef q 800 (Rear RL)
    REL T7 (SUB)
    mx 450 remote
    Sonos-Amp, Connect, Play5
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  • jaritta
    jaritta Posts: 277
    edited May 2011
    sorry, its jolida not jolita.. sorry
    Harman kardon signature 2.1 amp
    Denon 3312
    Epson 8700ub
    Chief mount
    Screen Innovations Performance Series 110in
    Kef q 500 (RL)
    Kef q 200 (C)
    Kef q 800 (Rear RL)
    REL T7 (SUB)
    mx 450 remote
    Sonos-Amp, Connect, Play5
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  • jaritta
    jaritta Posts: 277
    edited May 2011
    http://www.jolida.com/product/glassfx/fxtubedac

    http://www.uptownaudio.com/jolida/JolidaStore.htm
    Here is one for 375
    Harman kardon signature 2.1 amp
    Denon 3312
    Epson 8700ub
    Chief mount
    Screen Innovations Performance Series 110in
    Kef q 500 (RL)
    Kef q 200 (C)
    Kef q 800 (Rear RL)
    REL T7 (SUB)
    mx 450 remote
    Sonos-Amp, Connect, Play5
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  • Braddles
    Braddles Posts: 228
    edited May 2011
    Have a look at the audio gd site.http://www.audio-gd.com/En%20audio-gd.htm

    I got a NFB2 and it improved my Marantz CD6002 a fair bit. For $450 its a steal.
    Here is a review for you.
    http://www.digitalaudioreview.net.au/index.php/audio-reviews/digital-source-reviews/item/177-audio-gd-nfb-2-dac-19-series
    2 Channel
    Amp - Jas Audio Bravo 3.2 set
    Power Cord - Tunami GPX
    CDP - Marantz cd6002 - Audio gd Ref 5 Dac
    Speakers - Tekton Lore,Polk Audio RTA11tl completely refreshed.
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  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,601
    edited May 2011
    Braddles wrote: »
    Have a look at the audio gd site.http://www.audio-gd.com/En%20audio-gd.htm

    I got a NFB2 and it improved my Marantz CD6002 a fair bit. For $450 its a steal.
    Here is a review for you.
    http://www.digitalaudioreview.net.au/index.php/audio-reviews/digital-source-reviews/item/177-audio-gd-nfb-2-dac-19-series

    Pacific Valve will put a NFB3 on your doorstep for $350. There's a lot of debate
    on if it performs as well as the NFB2.
    A PSaudio DLIII might be good, as well as Wyrd 4 sound.
    But so far, I haven't been able to listen to anything other than
    a audio-gd DAC. And on somebody else's gear, hard to tell performance.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
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