what do i do ??

[sparky68]

hey chaps
got a bit of a dilema, :)
I have an Arcam 8 cd player which is imo still very good,
now do i keep it and buy a dac or get a new cd player ?

i haven't demo'd any other cd player so bit stumped as to what to do so after a bit of advise from anyone who has been down this route.

where im at is i only have 200 pound 'ish for a dac or sell the cd player for maybe 100 pounds and have 300 pounds for a new cd player.

please any advise would be greatfully appreciated

Kind Regards
Mark

[HighFidelityGuy]

My guess would be that you would get more value for money from getting a DAC. For that budget there are quite a few to choose from. For example the Beresford Caiman+ is on October special offer for £160 +VAT and shipping. You'll have no problem selling it if you don't like it. There's also the Arcam rDAC and others. You'll need to decide if you want one with a USB input or not for future expansion. Either way you could later upgrade your transport whether that be CD based or some kind of computer based audio.

I don't think you could get a new CD player for £300 with an internal DAC of the same quality of the Caiman. Unless you looked for second hand ones. :)

[Welder]

Rather depends on whether or not you intend to play CD’s for the forseeable future or branch out into file based audio.
In general though I would agree with Dave, prolly get more bang for buck buying a separate Dac. Not quite sure why it should seem to work like that though.
Lots of choice in the Dac market around £300 with not a lot to choose between them imo with regard to sound quality.

[sparky68]

Thanks vey much that was the route I was favouring too
spoken to Stan and will probably order it later tonight,
My only hope is it will bring new life to the old arcam ?
Don't really need USB so going to go for the caiman+ :)

was interested in the CA 840c cd with built in dac but not sold on the dacmagic Tho which I guess is in the unit ?

Mark

[Alex_UK]

Thanks vey much that was the route I was favouring too
spoken to Stan and will probably order it later tonight,
My only hope is it will bring new life to the old arcam ?


I will virtually guarantee it, if my experience is anything to go by (and many others who have turned an older player into a transport.) If the Arcam has coax spdif use that in preference to optical, I would suggest. Also consider a Mark Grant G1000HD interconnect from dac to amp as this is a good combination IME. Lastly, be prepared to pipe sound to it constantly (you can have the amp off) so you can speed up the burn-in process - virtually everyone has experienced much better performance after a fair amount of burn in time - Stan suggests 200 hours, which I wouldn't argue with. It certainly got better after 50 or so hours for me.

[Reid Malenfant]

I'd echo what everyone else has said, you'll do vastly better sound wise by using a seperate DAC. Take it from me that you'll more than likely never go back to a single box once you go down this road.

Well maybe for a second system ;)

[sparky68]

cheers Alex, Mark haha so many Marks on here

i was looking at that connect the other day on another thread can be bought as a return item from Mark if i remember for 45 pounds :) bargain i thought but may have to wait for the Guv'nors permission for that 1 tho ;)

Mark

[Ali Tait]

Another option might be the Valab NOS dac you can buy on ebay.There is a huge thread on this on head-fi. I have one coming to try.

[sparky68]

cheers Ali,
Ive ordered the caiman now as Stan has promised a try or return so cant go wrong there, top bloke he seems :)
if all goes horribly wrong then ill keep that 1 in mind, ive seen a few dacs from china on fleabay but always felt bit dubious about them.
be very interested in you review of the that 1 tho

Regards
Mark

[Ali Tait]

Yes I was going to get a Caiman too,but decided to try something a little different.This semms an interesting dac,and heas had a lot of good comments.Has passive output too!

[DSJR]

I love the way you lot are slagging off the Arcam as a complete CD player without having heard the thing... Them were the days when bolt-on DAC's were frowned upon...

I'm sure Caiman would have the potential to better a complete Alpha 8 (maybe not an 8SE though perhaps?), but don't assume that the likes of Arcam didn't know what they were doing by the late 90's and "any old DAC" bolted on is going to automatically better a complete player. They did and the Alpha 7SE onwards was the first when their thinking came together fully IMO.

No offence to Stan intended, but some of these budget priced CD players could sound very good indeed IMO.

[sparky68]

altho i haven't demo'd any cd players im sure you right Dave, Arcam are very good mines prob 13yrs old and altho not much used for first 10yrs is exceptional still.
I chose the caiman because of the returns policy from Stan (no quibble) if you dont like it send it back so cant really go wrong, cant wait to try it :)

Mark

[Alex_UK]

I love the way you lot are slagging off the Arcam as a complete CD player without having heard the thing... Them were the days when bolt-on DAC's were frowned upon...

Not sure I was slagging it off Dave. I desperately wanted to buy an Arcam the last 3 times I've auditioned CD players as I would have loved to have supported them (for being British, as well as the fact that my firm used to have commercial dealings with them) - but on the occasions that I demo'd them, I personally found them a little too smooth and dull for my tastes. The Caiman with 2 different Marantz CDP's (I know you're not a fan) as well as the Pioneer PDS-901 that I grabbed off ebay were all improved by a modern interpretation of DAC technology (in the form of the Caiman) to my ears. That's why I thought a Caiman would be an improvement - but of course it will depend on Mark's ears, and as he has said, with a no quibble returns policy he can't go wrong giving it a go.