CD Player or DAC Tough Decision Coming Up

Actually my LM515 has a Sony transport. More listening coming up, but I think I am going to stick with the Border Patrol/Oppo combo.
 
I’ve been looking at it but it’s expensive. I’ll need both coax and the USB connections. I’ll keep an eye for a used one. Thanks for the thread link.
 
Must of my music is on my Mac Mini that is my music sever. But, I have a very nice Sony Blu Ray player that I also use for SACD, CD, and I can stream Spotify from my phone through the Blu Ray player. I need to check with BP about the USB sound. I want to make sure it’s sound as good as the Coax connection. I have the DAC-R and I use a music player called Audirvarna (software) that is outstanding. I think I’ll give BP a call. If I hold of getting a turntable and can sell the Heed and the Rega, I can get the BP.
 
By all accounts the USB sound is fabulous. I'm telling you, I've never heard a digital source sound so right. When you do get around to buying a turntable the phono stage in the Belles is fantastic. Total winner.
 
Yes, and this makes for a difficult decision, turntable or DAC. I’m gonna give Gary a call tomorrow and ask some questions.

I’ve been trying to decide between the Planar 1 and 2. I’ll only be a occasional vinyl listener as I only have a few records. As such, the DAC probably makes better sense.

I’ve not sold the Heed as quickly as I’d hope. Guess I’m gonna have to put it on Audiogon.
 
I would go with the Planar 2. It's an excellent deck and you don't have to think about it again. DAC first, get this BP before either the price goes up or he quits making them. I absolutely love it! My KEF's have never sounded so friggin' good!!!
 
That’s very encouraging. Mine have never sounded better than with the Aria and I don’t have 50 hours on it.

Now you have me all excited about the Border Patrol!
 
So I have a Rega Apollo CD player that I had thought I might upgrade to a Line Magnetic 515 CD player at some point for my desktop system. Art, am I interpreting your experience correctly that you think I might get better sound by using my Rega as a transport with a Border Patrol DAC (rather than going from the Rega to a Line Magnetic 515 CD player)? Or is it more just apples and oranges in your view? Thanks! Margot
 
I just purchased a used Esoteric K-07X SACD Player. Great player and the internal DAC can be accessed via a digital, optical, or USB input on the back of the unit. USB Support for 2.8/5.6/11.2MHz DSD, 384kHz/ 32-bit PCM and Asynchronous Transmission. Very good sound!
 
I'd say the Marantz nd-8006, and the Pro-ject Box dacs...s2 line, Ds2 line, and RS lines most of them all decode MQA to...the good thing about Pro-ject is they are a source company above all else....
 
I'd go with a DAC as that will let you get great performance from near any CD player. The best two DAC's I've heard utilise AKM 4497EQ chips.

I think the Weilang Audio AKM 4497EQ DAC is the deal of the year. Sounds absolutely spectacular. Going to replace the stock OPAMPS for Burson V6 Classics in mine.... I suspect I'll eventually get it modified to use output transformers rather than OPAMPS for an even more transparent sound.

I've tried a Schiit Modi 2 Multibit and it doesn't come close
 
So I have a Rega Apollo CD player that I had thought I might upgrade to a Line Magnetic 515 CD player at some point for my desktop system. Art, am I interpreting your experience correctly that you think I might get better sound by using my Rega as a transport with a Border Patrol DAC (rather than going from the Rega to a Line Magnetic 515 CD player)? Or is it more just apples and oranges in your view? Thanks! Margot

I would say that is mostly accurate. The 515 has it’s magic and so does the Border Patrol. I would say that the Border Patrol is a bit more organic and the Line Magnetic a little more lively. The Border Patrol is a bit more detailed a very low volumes where the Border Patrol is better at dynamic contrasts.
 
Just as my system was sounding perfect my CD player took a dump. It ain't just a CD player it's the beautiful Line Magnetic 515CD. This the second time and now it's out of warranty. I have over 4000 titles on CD and have no intention of ripping them to a hard drive. I have a small Luxman player as a backup but it's always had trouble reading discs. That leaves me with an Oppo BDP103. Obviously it sounds like ass compared to the LM so with a budget of about $1000 should I get a new CD player such as a Rega Apollo or should I use the Oppo as a transport and buy a DAC?
Buy a DAC, I believe CD's are about to become quaint. Audio-gd sells direct and offers a large selection of quality gear, I have their DAC 19 based on the PCM 1704 chips. I have a $5,000 heavily modded CD player by Reference Audio Mods, even though it sounds better than my stand alone DAC, I end up using the DAC for convenince of playing the 300 CD's I have burned into ITunes.
Their is a lot of controversy about the MQA format, but I would buy an MQA enabled DAC, if it had everything else that I wanted.
I good rule of thumb, spend 50% of your budget on a transport and 50% on the DAC. Following owner / designer of Audio-gd, I bought a $1,000 DAC to go with my factory maxed out MacBook Pro retina.
 
Buy a DAC, I believe CD's are about to become quaint. Audio-gd sells direct and offers a large selection of quality gear, I have their DAC 19 based on the PCM 1704 chips. I have a $5,000 heavily modded CD player by Reference Audio Mods, even though it sounds better than my stand alone DAC, I end up using the DAC for convenince of playing the 300 CD's I have burned into ITunes.
Their is a lot of controversy about the MQA format, but I would buy an MQA enabled DAC, if it had everything else that I wanted.
I good rule of thumb, spend 50% of your budget on a transport and 50% on the DAC. Following owner / designer of Audio-gd, I bought a $1,000 DAC to go with my factory maxed out MacBook Pro retina.

Read my signature.
 
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