DAC for cd player?

brgman

I have the Oppo 95 with the Sabres and an Onkyo C-S5VL with wolfson dacs.
Does running either one of these through an outboard DAC benefit me in any way.
My thoughts are that the signal is already going through teh Sabres and the Wolfsons and usinga DAC is a moot point.Am i missing something here?

Erik Tracy

brgman wrote: »

I have the Oppo 95 with the Sabres and an Onkyo C-S5VL with wolfson dacs.
Does running either one of these through an outboard DAC benefit me in any way.
My thoughts are that the signal is already going through teh Sabres and the Wolfsons and usinga DAC is a moot point.Am i missing something here?

I've not personally heard the Oppo95, but it does seem to be getting good reviews for audio performance via the Sabre DACs.

Seeming as you just recently got the 95 - imo it wouldn't make sense to then get an external DAC, not unless you are not happy with the sound?

heiney9

If you use an external dac, you will no longer be using the Sabre's or Wolfson's.....actually right now you are using one or the other, not both. The outboard dac has it's own digital to analog circuitry and in most cases even a modest outboard dac will outperform internal dac's.

The outrboard dac is INSTEAD of either the Wolfson or Sabre, there is a WHOLE lot more to a dac than the digital conversion chip, just because it has a Wolfson or Sabre or Cirrus or Burr Brown chipset doesn't automatically mean it's great. The analog circuit is where the pieces shine.

Experimentation is key as well as defining a budget.

H9

brgman

Thanks guys.I would really be getting it for the Onkyo that is on a separate system for 2 channel right now.
I am looking at the $500-$750 range and i've looked at the players ie PS,Cambridge,MF,etc.
i just want to make sure i'm not spending money that reaps zero net gain.
From what heiney says i may just pick up a used one on the gon and see what i get.These seem to move around pretty often.Thank you.

nwohlford

This is one of those situations where it would be great to be able to try one out for a little while to see if it does make a difference. I recently picked up an old used DAC (Adcom GDA-700) figuring I could always resell if I did not add much to my Denon CD player. I have not gotten much of chance to test it yet (so no results yet).

Face

The analog section of your Oppo 95 will probably sound better than most DAC's in the $500-700 range.

Are you using the analog outs(RCA or Balanced) to your preamp for CD's?

brgman

Analog all the way.Thanks

BlueFox

In my mind, just using the Oppo 95 as a digital transport with an exteranl DAC for a two-channel system is overkill from a money perspective. The BDP-95 is a $1000 piece of gear, and if you are not going to use either the Bluray player, or the analog section you would be just as well off to find a used CD player and use it as digital transport.

brgman

I was thinking about it for the Onkyo in the 2 channel system.
Now i think i may set my sights and money on a tube preamp instead.
Anyone using the Vincent stuff?
I want a CJ but that may be out of my range.

tonyb

brgman wrote: »

I was thinking about it for the Onkyo in the 2 channel system.
Now i think i may set my sights and money on a tube preamp instead.
Anyone using the Vincent stuff?
I want a CJ but that may be out of my range.

The Vincent stuff has a very shabby bottom end. If a tubed pre is what you seek on a low budget, look no further than our own For Sale section at the Cary pre amp. You'd be hard pressed to do better.

cnh

You might want to think about just slapping a modest priced tube buffer ($200) onto the Onkyo and call it a day! Take a listen to something like the Yaqin and check out Phil's posts on that.

cnh