DACs

[Richiebuoy]

Are DAC's worth it ? I have the Musical Fidelity A3.2 CD player which I'm told (but I really dont know) has a good onboard DAC so is it worth getting a specialist DAC ?

[John]

Depends what you want. DACs do make a difference but if you happy with you sound do you really want to change your approach
How are you thinking of using a DAC

[Yomanze]

Plenty of DACs out there that your a3.2 CD will beat, and plenty that it won't. As John says it's up to what you want? What Linn amp are you using & is there anything about your current sound that you want to improve?

DACs generally give more bang for buck as they're much more reliable (almost always CD transports that die first), and as an investment I'd always go for DAC over CD player. This isn't to say that there aren't a lot of stunning standalone units that'll smoke most DACs!

[roob]

The difference in dacs sq wise is quite small in reality esp in the £200-600 price bracket.
A recent dac bake off over at pfm found little difference between a Benchmark DAC1, CA Dacmagic, V-dac, Audiolab MDAC and a cheapo Derek Shek NOS job from years ago once they were level matched.

[John]

I think the results were pretty set in stone I not want to get into testing but to be honest with the methodology of testing I am not surprised by the results on PFM Others including myself have been on bake offs where there been a noticeable difference between DACS.

[StanleyB]

It depends what you want from a DAC. Based on what customers tell me there are two main groups of listener requirements. One wants accurate pace, rhythm and timing with excellent instruments and vocal separation. The other wants a nice warm (some say analogue) sound with a wide soundstage.

I often see people stick a price on a DAC to try to quantify its ability. Those are the misguided buyers or commentators, and easy prey to retailers and manufacturers looking for a good margin. Once you know which category of listener you are in, you can then select DACs with those attributes to try out. I regularly get customers buying my DAC first and then tell me they want a warmer/colder/more neutral sound (make your pick which one you are after). If they knew in advance what kind of sound they are after it would be so much more helpful.

This brings me to the initial question. A CD player is limited to 16/44.1 WAV. You won't be able to enjoy many other audio formats and bitrates/frequencies with a DAC. If you are happy with that choice then so be it. But if you want more than 16/44.1 WAV then a DAC should be the next thing on your wish list.

[wee tam]

always liked the 24 bit sound , meridian 563 sound ,so musical , as has been said , what do you want from a dac ? , bake off then listen to a few , (without looking the specs up) will ultimately be the answer

[Yomanze]

always liked the 24 bit sound , meridian 563 sound ,so musical , as has been said , what do you want from a dac ? , bake off then listen to a few , (without looking the specs up) will ultimately be the answer

Am not so sure if that's the 24 bit sound as much as Meridian making bloody good digital stuff!

[wee tam]

got a 563 , in use daily , would never , ever , ever part with it , depends how you like your sampling , musical and foot tapping , or Analytical , the farther up the scale you go the more you lose in music , all imho of course

[ossy]

I bought a 2nd hand nos dac which made a huge improvement over my meridian cdp - it went from flat, dull and boring to a more 3d like and interesting presentation. I've now had it for at least 4 years with no urge to change.

It's worth trying a few imo to see what floats your boat but don't expect differences to be huge.