Is this a good price?

organ

Is $275US a good price to pay for an Audio Alchemy DTI Pro 32? If I get one it will be linked together with the DTI. DTI to DTI pro.

Thanks

Maurice

PolkWannabie

Audiogon used average is $420

organ

Sweet:D. Need to do some calculations now:). Thanks a lot guys.

Maurice

dragon1952

organ.....does your current DAC improve the NAD sound quality much? I've been thinking about the 541 myself.
Thanks..

organ

Dragon,
The AA DITB sounds better than the internal DAC in the NAD. But adding the DTI to the DITB really improved everything. The NAD sounds great but it lacks the puch, clarity and warmth of the AA combo. I think you'll be very happy with the 541's performance. It has already been replaced by the 541i which I hear is quite an improvement. You can use the NAD as a transport if you decide to buy an external DAC.

Maurice

dragon1952

Sorry....I meant the 541i.......saturdayaudio.com has them on sale for $299 and the 521i for $199.
I currently have an AA DAC-MAN...don't know how it compares with yours.

organ

That is a great price for both players.

I haven't seen any pics or read anything about the DAC-MAN. Can you post a pic. But I'm guessing that one of the big advantage to using an external DAC is the seperate and independant power source. You should keep an eye out for a DTI to use together with your MAN. They go for under $100 used. That little thing made a big difference in my system. The best is suppose to be the DTI pro 32. The upsampling adds dither to the signal which makes your CD's sound like vinyl.

I read an article about the 32 written by a vinyl nut. He warned vinyl fans to stay away from that unit if they want to keep spinning records. The Vinyl Anachronist said the same thing in one of his articles about sources that add dither to the digital signal.

Maurice

HBombToo

Originally posted by organ


They go for under $100 used. That little thing made a big difference in my system. The best is suppose to be the DTI pro 32.

Maurice

organ I lost track of your DTI purchase and am glad you feal as I do. I am hooked on AA DTI.

HBomb

dragon1952

Here's a picture.....
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3079099118&category=3272&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWN%3AIT&rd=1
I'll have to keep a lookout for the DTI. The price sounds good.

organ

HBomb,
I got it from audiogon through the link you posted. Thanks alot dude. I'm really diggin it. Already looking for another or a pro 32.

Some people say the DTI adds jitter. I don't know about that but my ears love the sound. Whatever it's doing to the signal, it's awesome. I find it amusing how some people say that a device made to reduce jitter, adds jitter.

Dragon,
That looks very nice. Thanks for the link. How do you like the sound with your current CD player? If you just want to use the NAD as a CD player, I'm sure the 521i should do a great job. However, the 541i decodes HDCD. HDCD sounds better through my NAD's DAC.

It's probably better to try out a DTI first to see if you need to upgrade the source.

Keep us posted.

Maurice

HBombToo

Originally posted by organ


Some people say the DTI adds jitter. I don't know about that but my ears love the sound. Whatever it's doing to the signal, it's awesome. I find it amusing how some people say that a device made to reduce jitter, adds jitter.

Organ
I'm going from memory here but I think you'll get the point when I'm finished.

Putting jitter in terms of parts per billion as an example and the numbers are for illustration:

a junk cd player may have jitter as high as 10k PPB
a mid file cd player may be 2.5k PPB
an audiophile cd player may be 250 PPB
the DTI has an inherent jitter(as do all devices) of about 400 PBB

so the short of it will be the DTI will do great for junk to mid file where as the DTI will take the audiophile player and impress its own jitter signature onto the playback.

I think thats what you may be hearing from opinions. I run my DTI on my Zenith HDSAT520 Direct TV decoder and it makes a huge difference but I noticed that my Audio Research DAC sounds better than the DTI so I quickly removed the DTI from the chain. It all depends.

HBomb

organ

Wow. Thanks for the info. I think you're right. Every component have its own sound signature and I guess the DTI have the right jitter signature for my ears:). We all want a little bit of distortion, jitter, or coloration in our sound.

I'm not surprised you enjoy the DAC by itself. Audio Research is some pricey stuff. I bet it even have its own jitter reducer built in.

Maurice

HBombToo

AR put a lot of work into the internal clocks of the dac itself plus it uses the 8412 receiver chip which does a great job in jitter reduction. I much prefer the sound of my DAC while listing to D* PCM but the 8412 chip in the AR does not pass DD and the DTI will so I settled for the DTI for D*. Not much of a settle though... IMHO the DTI does a better than great job.

HBomb