What is it about a CD player...
Comments
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your fine Shear. The DAC in the players designed to play music will as a general rule outperform the DAC is a receiver, especially the ones we see alot of here. Always exceptions though. The mentioned DAC1 is a well respected DAC for a POS player, a good player does not need a DAC, now that particular DAC also has some connection benefits.
RT1 -
I made a slight correction.The results should be very good as the DAC 1 is a giant killer and having a sample rate converter at it's input makes the choice of transport less critical.
Okay. I can accept that qualification.
However, I would like to add that a comparably priced CD player will have a large part of its price based on the parts used for the chassis, transport, and other parts that are not related to its DAC. The DAC1 on the other hand has most of its price based on the parts used for the DAC.
So, a cheapo $69 CD transport (as long as the bits are error free), coupled with a DAC1 will, theoretically, outperform a comparably priced CD player, since the majority of the DAC1 engineering is focused on the music, not the chassis, motor, laser, etc. Additionally, when you throw in that the DAC1 was designed for professional recording studio playback of digital sources, it would be reasonable to assume that a $69 CD transport and a $975 DAC1 playback system is probably equal to, or better, than a $2000, or greater, CD player.
Personally, I have 2 DAC1s. A regular DAC1 in the HT room that uses a Sony NS9100ES DVD/SACD player as the digital front end, and the living room has a DAC1 Pre with a Sony DVP-S550P DVD player as the front end. The living room DVD player was my first DVD player that I purchased in 1999 for $499. Equivalent technology today is probably in the $69 range. Used with the DAC1, CDs sound magical, almost SACD like. The rest of the living room system is a Cambridge-Audio 840W amp, and 2 PSB Synchrony One speakers. On the other hand, the HT room is all Polk, with 4 LSi15s, LSiC, and a PSW100, coupled with a Sony 7100ES attached to a Sunfire TGA-5400.
Both systems sound great with the DAC1.
Check it out for yourself.
http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DAC1/
As a happy customer plug, I would like to say that I purchased my DAC1s from Sweetwater. They are the most customer friendly company I have ever encountered on the web. They actually called me up to make sure I was ordering the correct item, and they assign a customer service engineer to each sale to make sure the customer does not have any issues with installation, operation, etc. Even better, they have free shipping.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. -
The DAC1 on the other hand has most of its price based on the parts used for the DAC.
Really? You think there are $995 worth of parts in there? Electronics are cheap these days, the DAC chips themselves are less than $5 in quantity, the case probably cost just as much to make as the electronics inside.
I'm sure it's a great DAC, but separate DAC's are some of the most overpriced electronics in the audio world. -
The price is very reasonable considering what they have incorporated into the design,and according to users and critics its an excellent performer.
I'm sure it's a great DAC, but separate DAC's are some of the most overpriced electronics in the audio world.Testing
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