How Do DACS work?

jabrax

My limited understanding.
DAC - Transfer digital signal of source to Analog.

Issue - Currently I have a marantz 5 disc changer that leaves me a little short in the sound quality. I currently have it hooked up with silver interconnects (analog). I noticed that playing the CD source direct (source bypass feature of the pre) does NOT sound as good as stereo mode of the preamp. My assumption the DAC in the pre produces better sound than my CDP DAC.

I am now in the market for an upgrade, and don't want to go over 4 or 500 bucks. Problem is I prefer multidisc units for the random feature and most of the referred cd players for the quality i am looking for are single disk.

Techy question - How much does the transport matter when using a DAC? My first thought was that putting something else in the signal path would degrade, but my understanding of digital, is that they are all 1's and 0's and the transport wouldn't matter that much coming from a digital out. Would a DAC in that price range be a noticeable improvement?

ben62670

I know I am going to get flamed for this, but my source is a 200 disk Sony. With the addition of a solid DAC it sounds great. I ran an Adcom GDA700 for a while, and it was great, but I switched to a DIY style DAC that is a big step above the Adcom.
Ben

fbm211

A seperate DAC might give you Better SQ.Your ears are your own best judge.You could get a nice adcom GDA-700 for 300.00 or less.Or a GDA-600 for around 125.00-150.00...There are a-lot of options out there of course.Get your read on.AudiogoN and the bay are your best option for a good deal on a used DAC. If you dont like it you could resell it for around what you pay for it.Some even come up for sale here in the for sale section.Check it daily.......Oh, and a better transport will make a difference, IMO.My DAC made a difference----clearer cleaner highs,tighter bass and the mids a little less forward and in your face.

fbm211

Some links for you. http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlconv&1241236727&/Theta-pro-basic-ii-dac http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlconv&1241305629&/Musical-Fidelity-X-24K

jabrax

ben62670 wrote: »

I know I am going to get flamed for this, but my source is a 200 disk Sony. With the addition of a solid DAC it sounds great. I ran an Adcom GDA700 for a while, and it was great, but I switched to a DIY style DAC that is a big step above the Adcom.
Ben

Well I cant flame ya. I like to load them in and hit the random button. So a DAC did make a big difference?

That adcom might be worth a twirl, i can always get rid of it if there isn't a jump up from the marantz 4001

jabrax

fbm211 wrote: »

A seperate DAC might give you Better SQ.Your ears are your own best judge.You could get a nice adcom GDA-700 for 300.00 or less.Or a GDA-600 for around 125.00-150.00...There are a-lot of options out there of course.Get your read on.AudiogoN and the bay are your best option for a good deal on a used DAC. If you dont like it you could resell it for around what you pay for it.Some even come up for sale here in the for sale section.Check it daily.......Oh, and a better transport will make a difference, IMO.My DAC made a difference----clearer cleaner highs,tighter bass and the mids a little less forward and in your face.

ok, now you just hit me upside the head with a wrench with the transport comment. Was trying to talk myself into this being an easy one

Thanks for the recommendations on the adcom and the ones on agon. I saw them both earlier today. The theta seems to be a popular brand. Must be pretty old with that big of a price drop from new, might be worth a spin to play with.

See a lot about Cambridge DacMagic. Looks like a hot item for pc and mp3 stuff. If digital sources to the DAC didn't matter, this would be soooo much easier lol

Mike21

Hi jabrax.

You stated that your connection from the CD Changer to the Pre is via analog. That would mean your Changer is performing the D to A conversion. If you connected via digital (optical or coax), the Pre would do the deed. You might try this to see if it results in sound improvement.

Using "Direct" mode on your Pre has nothing to do w/ D to A; it merely bypasses all uneccessary processing features. My Onk 805 also sounds better in Stereo mode than in its "Direct" or "Pure Audio" modes.

If your Changer is the CC 4001 then it has a pretty good DAC chip: the Cirrus Logic CS4392. You might be wasting your money if you bought a DAC that did not have a better chip. I don't know enough about DAC chips to say what is better. Maybe someone out there knows?

mmadden28

Mike21 wrote: »

Hi jabrax.

...
Using "Direct" mode on your Pre has nothing to do w/ D to A; it merely bypasses all uneccessary processing features. My Onk 805 also sounds better in Stereo mode than in its "Direct" or "Pure Audio" modes.

...

One would also have to account that when in Direct or Pure Audio Mode, at least this is what I have discovered so far, is that no signal is sent to the subwoofer/LFE, and any XO settings are also bypassed. Just mentioning as that can be a possible reason why non-direct mode might sound better.