Should I keep micromega stage 6 and use as transport into new DAC?

[peelaaa]

I have owned the micromega stage 6 cd player for many years and have updated many components including clock, opamps and capacitors.

I feel something is lacking in the sound though compared to my vinyl system, would a new dac be a good option and use the player as just a transport. The mocromega has a digital output on the back so it should be possible.

But which DAC should I buy that would be better than micromega?

[simon g]

The Stage 6 is a nice player. For much of an improvement you'll have to spend a fair bit, IMO. What's your budget?

If you are going to spend money, and don't need a DAC per se, then investing in a new CD player may bring the results you're after.

[StanleyB]

I have owned the micromega stage 6 cd player for many years and have updated many components including clock, opamps and capacitors.

I feel something is lacking in the sound though compared to my vinyl system, would a new dac be a good option and use the player as just a transport. The mocromega has a digital output on the back so it should be possible.

But which DAC should I buy that would be better than micromega?

I would suggest that you consider my Bushmaster MKII for the DAC. Ignore the silly low price that I sell it at, and just concentrate on the actual performance. Have a read what existing owners on AoS are saying, or even PM them for their honest opinion.

[wee tee cee]

I'm quite happy to oblige if the poster wants a PM chat.....no bullshit assessment free of charge. Mate had a micromega transport late 80s, milled alloy case with the clear perspex lid.......fabulous bit of kit plumbed into a meridian DAC had many happy nights getting drunk listening to music at his place.

[DSJR]

If the Stage 6 is still working properly, then as a stand-alone machine it should still be excellent! The only severe complaints we UK dealers had was diabolocal unreliability at the time and little to no service backup - the mech on these wasn't a standard Philips part and once we got the manufacturer in France to send one, the price was horrendous! Obviously a decade or more has passed since then, so as long as yours is working well, it'll be fine.

As to add-on DAC's, may I ask what the rest of the system is? (Oh alright, I'll go and check ) This player was pretty benign and without add-on character, so unlikely to be a bottleneck into correctly reproducing what's actually there on the discs you play.

DAC chipsets are now very cheap for Chinese manufacturers to source in bulk, so there really isn't much cause today for a trade-price DAC to be much more expensive than a Bushmaster 2, unless a bling case and cachet pushes the price over a grand (I'm sure the Benchmark DAC is incredibly profitable for the manufacturer - Lord knows it shouldn't cost much to make these days!) The only excuse for the sweet toned Rega DAC to cost what it does is the UK manufacture, since the dealer network really don't make huge profits percentage wise. Made in China, the Rega DAC would be two thirds the price tops I reckon!

[Yomanze]

DAC chipsets are now very cheap for Chinese manufacturers to source in bulk, so there really isn't much cause today for a trade-price DAC to be much more expensive than a Bushmaster 2, unless a bling case and cachet pushes the price over a grand (I'm sure the Benchmark DAC is incredibly profitable for the manufacturer - Lord knows it shouldn't cost much to make these days!) The only excuse for the sweet toned Rega DAC to cost what it does is the UK manufacture, since the dealer network really don't make huge profits percentage wise. Made in China, the Rega DAC would be two thirds the price tops I reckon!

This is total rubbish... I really do wish you were right & something like a Bushmaster or Rega DAC hit the limits of what's possible with digital audio, but they're not, and there's justifiably more expensive stuff out there. Not just in the casework, but in the power supplies, components choice etc.

Back to the OP I would agree that starting with a DAC with the Micromega as transport would be the way to go, and then later on experiment with different transports.

[sq225917]

By far the most handsome front panel ever to grace a cd player, lovely light show.

[Rare Bird]

If the Stage 6 is still working properly, then as a stand-alone machine it should still be excellent! The only severe complaints we UK dealers had was diabolocal unreliability at the time and little to no service backup - the mech on these wasn't a standard Philips part and once we got the manufacturer in France to send one, the price was horrendous! Obviously a decade or more has passed since then, so as long as yours is working well, it'll be fine.

Dave you keep saying this but i keep saying i swapped the mechs in my Micro 'Stage' machines. The connector/wiring just wants altering for the original The last one i sold, i hear is still going strong..

Ian:
Have you tried the old Micromega 'DAC-1'?

[StanleyB]

This is total rubbish... I really do wish you were right & something like a Bushmaster or Rega DAC hit the limits of what's possible with digital audio, but they're not, and there's justifiably more expensive stuff out there. Not just in the casework, but in the power supplies, components choice etc.

You say that, but more expensive is not a technical or scientific indication that something is better. I personally doubt that there is much out there right now that is far superior to the TC-7533. I am not guessing. I have had quite a few people with some seriously expensive DACs try the prototypes that went towards the final TC-7533 design. The clue is in the extra information that people can hear coming out of the TC-7533. The expensive kit tried so far failed to reproduce most of the extra detail. What they could do is sound warmer and had a larger dynamic range in some cases. But separation of sounds etc was inferior to my modest TC-7533.

[DSJR]

This is total rubbish... I really do wish you were right & something like a Bushmaster or Rega DAC hit the limits of what's possible with digital audio, but they're not, and there's justifiably more expensive stuff out there. Not just in the casework, but in the power supplies, components choice etc.

Back to the OP I would agree that starting with a DAC with the Micromega as transport would be the way to go, and then later on experiment with different transports.

With the greatest respect, I think you're living still in the early 90's where this particular aspect is concerned.. DAC chips are doing far more internally now and cheaper, and need less and less externally added to them by ham fisted domestic audio 'engineers' who often haven't a clue what the hell they're doing, unless they're DELIBERATELY changing the sound to suit the market as Meridian did for years!

OF COURSE power supplies must be meticulaously designed, and Stan for one has shown by measurement as well as sonics (I believe) what can be done for low cost to achieve perfection here, as near as dammit. You're absolutely correct about good power supplies, audio op-amps needing them too since they have such hugely wide bandwidths, but believe me, I really don't think many Top End *domestic audio* engineers, who may be experts on simple amp designs, have huge expertise in cost-effective power supply design, or if they do, they add huge amounts of 'intellectual property' to the base cost, thereby over inflating their selling prices.

The single most expensive part of any solid-state domestic audio product is usually the casework (I'll excuse huge power amps here, where the transformer and supply caps can cost many tens of pounds each, as Simon SQ found when rebuilding his Krell monster from the early 90's), the passive components twenty a penny (off a gondola roll) and 'audio grade' electrolytics now a few tens of pence at most. Even 'expensive' DAC chips now cost around a fiver (I'm pretty sure that's what the Sabre and top Wolfson chips cost and bulk buying in mega-thousands may bring prices down even more).

Sorry, I don't mean to argue - honest - but we consumers have been ripped off for far too long on the electronics side at least and the expensive Top End these days is more B&O-Bling than B&O is these days, and often with the same kind of cachet-loyalty too If Stan were to put his new DAC in a fancy case with a high quality feeling attenuator (longer lasting than the little pot he uses now, but irrelevent to most users I suspect) and build in the power supply, the trade price would be several hundred at least and the retail price 50% or more above that - see how it works?