Darren69 Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 OK, am not devaluing or promoting anything here, just thinking out aloud. Am very wary of the 'format industry' these days, things being repackaged and sold all over again. Someone tell me why I should be looking at DAC's. CD's are still readily available and I would argue, going off vinyl, that they always will be. Why should I not be looking at some breathtaking CD player instead? Before you say 'convenience of not having to lift your arse off the lounge', I will state that I enjoy the ritual of 'putting something on', be it silver or black. Your audio-geeky thoughts please?
Decky Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 A DAC gives you more options. You can have multiple sources feed into a DAC: disc spinners, digital sources. st®eamers, computers, toasters, microwaves.... With a CD player you only have a CD player (unless it has a "digital in" which makes it a DAC as well).
gavtron Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 Given the info you listed above there is no reason to consider a separate DAC All cd player's with analog outputs have DAC's built in. Some are better than others. Put time into finding a CD player you are really happy with Cheers, gav.
Darren69 Posted June 8, 2013 Author Posted June 8, 2013 A DAC gives you more options. You can have multiple sources feed into a DAC: disc spinners, digital sources. st®eamers, computers, toasters, microwaves.... With a CD player you only have a CD player (unless it has a "digital in" which makes it a DAC as well). The P3 pre amp I have does that stuff (?) Yes gav, that's another way of looking at it.
Decky Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 I was talking about digital sources not analogue ones. You can keep your CD player as a transport by taking SPDIF out, but also feed computer output into the DAC at the same time. Or maybe a dedicated music server through HDMI. A lot of options out there. With a CD player you are stuck with the spinning shiny disks and 44.1KHz red-book CD quality. DACs will play hi-res digital files, DSD files and all other things as well. All depends how are you planning to store your music.
Darren69 Posted June 8, 2013 Author Posted June 8, 2013 Ok. Man I am a dinosaur. I just worry about future proofing stuff. SACD never really took off and maybe even has the death rattles now...I can see Blu Ray going by the wayside yadda yadda. I guess if I have the disc, it don't matter.
Rocky Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 I just purchased an Audiolab M-DAC and am in the process of sussing this same question. So far, pretty line ball between the dac and my CD so far as SQ goes. Differences are very hard to pick to my ol' ears anyway. Something else to consider - http://xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html
emesbee Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 (edited) A DAC gives you more options. You can have multiple sources feed into a DAC: disc spinners, digital sources. st®eamers, computers, toasters, microwaves.... With a CD player you only have a CD player (unless it has a "digital in" which makes it a DAC as well). That's a big reason why I bought a stand alone DAC. About 3 or 4 years ago I was looking to replace my ageing CD player with something that sounded a bit better. My budget was fairly modest, I wasn't looking for something high end, just an improvement on what I had before. I realised that what I was seeking was better digital to analogue conversion than what my old CD player could provide, and very quickly came to the conclusion that for the money I was willing to spend, a stand alone DAC seemed like a better option. It is quite possible that I might have been able to find a CD player that sounded just as good, but the flexibility of being able to use a DAC with all my digital sources (including my PC) had great appeal. I should add that there are some CD players around that have digital inputs, which enable the DAC section to be used with other digital sources. These don't seem to be very common though. Edited June 8, 2013 by emesbee
Keith Anderson Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 I'm in the same battle, vinyl comes first but I also have a lot of CD's and trying to work out whether to go with a playback device, something like the Olive One or as I'm doing now computer to Dac or go a CD spinner. I love putting on a LP and spinning it though, not jumping tracks all around the place but come party time something is very easy with the computer/dac or playback device with playlists and such. Such a great journey this eh.
Keith Anderson Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 I know the new Rega Saturn CD player is going to have digital inputs or at least USB capable of 24/192 so it could be a option, although so far suggested prices I've heard is $3000
Darren69 Posted June 8, 2013 Author Posted June 8, 2013 All interesting, though my ADD cut in early when reading your link Rocky. Sigh. Oh yes keitha, a great journey it is.
unclemack Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 Future Proofing? I bought my first Black Sabbath record in 1970. In the 80's all my records looked to be on their way to obsolesence. Oops, it's now 43 years and I'm still playing my original Sabbath LP... How's that for future proof? I if you back up all your music on FLAC or similar, I wonder how long it'll be until those formats are extinct and you have to update the whole catalogue again? 40+ years? I doubt it. Cheers M 4
davewantsmoore Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 Why should I not be looking at some breathtaking CD player instead? A CD player IS a DAC ;-) Obviously it's just a choice of which media you prefer. Neither are necessarily better from a SOTA playback perspective.... they just have different pros/cons.
emesbee Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 A CD player IS a DAC ;-) Obviously it's just a choice of which media you prefer. Neither are necessarily better from a SOTA playback perspective.... they just have different pros/cons. Actually, a CD player is a transport + DAC.
davewantsmoore Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 FLAC ... extinct FLAC is non-proprietary software (open/free) .... It will live forever. 1
davewantsmoore Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 Actually, a CD player is a transport + DAC. The still makes a "cd player is a dac" ... if you want to play semantics ;-) :-p
emesbee Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 The still makes a "cd player is a dac" ... if you want to play semantics ;-) :-p Nah, its a boring game. I was playing pedantics. 1
Keith Anderson Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 (edited) Well actually isn't a CD player a transport THAT has a Dac inside, but its not a Dac,...... I think Edited June 8, 2013 by keitha
Volunteer sir sanders zingmore Posted June 8, 2013 Volunteer Posted June 8, 2013 OK, am not devaluing or promoting anything here, just thinking out aloud. Am very wary of the 'format industry' these days, things being repackaged and sold all over again. Someone tell me why I should be looking at DAC's. CD's are still readily available and I would argue, going off vinyl, that they always will be. Why should I not be looking at some breathtaking CD player instead? Before you say 'convenience of not having to lift your arse off the lounge', I will state that I enjoy the ritual of 'putting something on', be it silver or black. Your audio-geeky thoughts please? If you read the DAC posts on SNA you will see that there is a real possibility of getting caught up in the chase for the latest "flavour of the month". If you are happy spinning CDs then there is no reason not to have a dedicated CD player. In fact, the fact that DACs are indeed flavour of the month means that CD players are less fashionable and you should be able to pick up a breathtaking CD player for a song 3
unclemack Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 FLAC is non-proprietary software (open/free) .... It will live forever. But will the hard-drive? Cheers M 1
unclemack Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 I have a couple of pretty good if not great CD spinners, both Pioneer Stable Platter machines... I'm right in saying that a good DAC would take my CD playing to another level am I not? Cheers M
gavtron Posted June 8, 2013 Posted June 8, 2013 I have a couple of pretty good if not great CD spinners, both Pioneer Stable Platter machines... I'm right in saying that a good DAC would take my CD playing to another level am I not? Cheers M Only if you liked the sound of the external DAC more than the ones currently in you cd player ie: If you had an Ayon cd5s - you probably wouldn't want to hook it up to a schiit bifrost or similar 1
Darren69 Posted June 9, 2013 Author Posted June 9, 2013 Future Proofing? I bought my first Black Sabbath record in 1970. In the 80's all my records looked to be on their way to obsolesence. Oops, it's now 43 years and I'm still playing my original Sabbath LP... How's that for future proof? I if you back up all your music on FLAC or similar, I wonder how long it'll be until those formats are extinct and you have to update the whole catalogue again? 40+ years? I doubt it. Cheers M Egg Zackary! Which is also my argument for the on going existence of CD's and my reluctance to get caught up in electronic formats, so to speak. I fear one may then be at the mercy of marketing. Good point Whatmore re- pricing. CD players for a song? Boom tish. Today I like Moon, Esoteric and Audiolab...being a sl&t, tomorrow it will be something else, haha.
Freedom Posted June 9, 2013 Posted June 9, 2013 Well actually isn't a CD player a transport THAT has a Dac inside, but its not a Dac,...... I think A 'CD' player is just a mechanism for reproducing 'data' on a disc. A CD 'disc' is just a 'medium' that 'stores' data. So in the end a 'CD player' is just reading 'data' from a disc. A 'computer' can just as easily 'read' data from it's 'files' stored on the computer. The difference comes from listeners thinking they can 'hear' a 'lower' quality reproduction coming from a 'computer' as opposed to a 'CD player'! 'Both' devices 'read' a digital file then reproduce it to be audible. It seems to be the 'process' of reading the data that gets a lot of controversy. Personally I can't hear a difference, but others claim they can. Good luck if you can, but I love the convenience of accessing a TB of music at my fingertips, as well as browsing all the liner notes from the CD while I listen. First they had 'vinyl' then came tapes, cartridges, CDs, and now just digital downloads! Digital is just too damn versatile! :lol:
Decky Posted June 9, 2013 Posted June 9, 2013 Man - don't go into semantics theory now. We all know what a CD player is...or do we??? 1
Recommended Posts