DAC advice?

[DonTeflon]

I've ripped quite a few of my CD's, but I still have a big bunch to rip, and then got a huge box of CD's from a collector a while back. Some of it's stuff I want to keep and some not so much, but I like to listen to it before I rip it. So I came across some threads on here about the old Sony ES SACD/DVD/CD players. You can find them for not too much money and they were really high end back in the day. Worth checking them out (example of the NC555ES below) or any of the ES models -- the OP said he has a sony XA20ES CD

Ahh I see. I would rip Library CDs back in the day (shhhhh hahaha), but it is a very space-friendly solution to CD storage. Yes, I could see a Sony player like this being able to be a higher quality audio source device then an old 5-in-1 player I was thinking about going back and getting. I feel like you could find some ok-good quality players at thrift or second hand stores because people may have just dropped their equipment to donate not knowing what kind of player they have on their hands. Crazy finds you can make there.

 

[Bill Ferris]

FWIW, I`ve been most SQ pleased with my Pro-ject brand Pre Box S2 Digital DAC for the 4 yrs, of daily all day music playing needs, with it`s small form factor, LCD information display, included small form factor handy IR remote control..

It has 3 digital inputs (USB (B connector), S/PDIF coax, and TosLink optical), 5 selectable high frequency roll off filters, a front panel 1/4" headphone jack with knob type volume control, which also varies the unbalanced stereo RCA outputs as well.
It can be powered via the included 5v SMPS wall wart, or the USB connector cable plugged into a computer that is providing the ripped music source.
It`s resolution capability is pretty impressive utilizing the ESS SABRE ESS 9038 dual DAC: 32-bit 768 kHz PCM and DSD 512, it also supports MQA, if that`s a consideration.
Current price is $ 499.00 USD new on Amazon.com and elsewhere.

 

[SterlingOne]

Greetings all!
I have a chance to improve my CD front end, I'm just not sure if this will be an upgrade or not. the sound presently is very detailed but at times a bit shrill in the high end.
I currently have a sony XA20ES CD player that has an amazing transport. the DAC is something called a current pulse DAC, also this is the American model that has a toslink optical digital output.
I may be able to get a Music Fidelity X-24K, with the X- PSU power supply at an affordable price. I read on line that this DAC is a 24 bit delta sigma DA chip 8X oversampling. I have tried to find out which DAC is better but could not find anything on the internet. I did read how connecting an external DAC is not favored by some people. any help would be appreciated. thank you.

Associated equipment:
Phase Linear 330 preamp
Adcom GFA 5400 amp
KLH model Nine speakers

Perhaps, think about DACs sounding different rather than on a scale of better, I have 6 DACs and my preference is for one made back in 1992. It only supports DAT play unfortunately. 3 of my DACs are found in preamps: OPPO-205, Parasound P6, and Marantz NR1200. Of these the Marantz is most useful, since it accepts HDMI input, which decodes SACD DSD output from my Sony Universal Player. At any rate, it's easy for me to rate DACs in hand but I have no idea about how to choose a DAC from speculation or even from reading reviews. I guess you must buy from a source that has a return policy that's adequate for your auditioning needs. Good luck with that.

 

[SterlingOne]

All,
Right now, if multi-channel and stereo SACD floats your boat then so will the Sony UBP-X800M2 Universal Player, since it may be the only current player out there today that will process multi-channel SACD. Thing is however this player has no DAC so it must be connected via HDMI to an AVR or PrePro having a DAC which can process DSD/PCM from multi-channel/stereo SACDs, or, just for stereo pleasure, the player must be connected to an external DSD DAC which has an HDMI input, or a component such as the Marantz NR1200 2.1 Receiver. At any rate, the point here is to the best of my knowledge there are no affordable external DACs on the market today which have an HDMI input to service stereo and/or multi-channel SACD enthusiast needs. That's a hard pill to swallow since SACD is still the de-facto state of the art means to recorded music.

 

[idf.bts]

There is a multitude of reports about this on ASR. Here’s a post by one of the Topping engineers sort of acknowledging the issue:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...g-d90se-review-balanced-dac.24235/post-834419

They used a different chip in the D90SE but the issue remained at least to some extent, you can browse the D90SE thread on ASR.

Not long time ago someone on AK reported an issue with a recent iteration of the E30 that now used the CS chip, he couldn’t get it to work reliably with his CDP, you can search for it here.

It’s hard to say if Topping is at fault or this is due to the limitations of the chip, but the issue appears to be real.

Thank you. A word of advice is to source the comment first time because otherwise its a good way to be overlooked. I read that in passing and was like ok bla bla bla another guy that has a crappy tolslink cable. Often with stuff like this 1 in 100 is true, so its nice to know when a true one pops up.

 

[JoeESP9]

All,
Right now, if multi-channel and stereo SACD floats your boat then so will the Sony UBP-X800M2 Universal Player, since it may be the only current player out there today that will process multi-channel SACD. Thing is however this player has no DAC so it must be connected via HDMI to an AVR or PrePro having a DAC which can process DSD/PCM from multi-channel/stereo SACDs, or, just for stereo pleasure, the player must be connected to an external DSD DAC which has an HDMI input, or a component such as the Marantz NR1200 2.1 Receiver. At any rate, the point here is to the best of my knowledge there are no affordable external DACs on the market today which have an HDMI input to service stereo and/or multi-channel SACD enthusiast needs. That's a hard pill to swallow since SACD is still the de-facto state of the art means to recorded music.

The UBP-X700 will also output a 5.1 SACD signal via HDMI. It like the X800 will not decode an SACD signal. It does have dual HDMI outputs. One is dedicated to audio only.

 

[Big-L]

I have a few DAC/Amps myself and was wondering for you cats setup with CD listening endpoints, what CD players are you using? I moved to streaming pretty quickly, but still have a box of CDs collecting dust that I could use with the addition of a CD player and let the DAC to speakers improve playback, but have my old CD/AM FM radio combos from childhood that are likely to not provide quality output. Any other threads I should check on this? What players are you using?

Using a Cambridge cd transport and Schiit Gungnir multibit DAC ( Gumby ) and sounds great. I feel it beats my turntable...would help to get rid of the cartridge I have on the Pro-ject and move to an AT MC cartridge, but for now I just listen to my cd's.. since I've got almost 800 and have been buying them since they first came out in those big boxs....remember those ..lol

 

[DonTeflon]

Using a Cambridge cd transport and Schiit Gungnir multibit DAC ( Gumby ) and sounds great. I feel it beats my turntable...would help to get rid of the cartridge I have on the Pro-ject and move to an AT MC cartridge, but for now I just listen to my cd's.. since I've got almost 800 and have been buying them since they first came out in those big boxs....remember those ..lol

All great brands. Is Cambridge considered mid or high grade to you? I know they have some hefty priced pieces but they look like good quality. I do remember those CDs and those CD boxes. Crazy how I saw them as a kid and now never see CDs anymore. AT cart's are nice and reliable that's a good move.

 

[Big-L]

All great brands. Is Cambridge considered mid or high grade to you? I know they have some hefty priced pieces but they look like good quality. I do remember those CDs and those CD boxes. Crazy how I saw them as a kid and now never see CDs anymore. AT cart's are nice and reliable that's a good move.

I'd say the Cambridge is mid grade....at the time of buying it , there weren't alot of decent transports under the $1000 price tag...now that CD's are making a come back...there are alot more transports

Even Wal-Mart is selling CD's again..Amazon also has alot to chose from to.

 

[DonTeflon]

I'd say the Cambridge is mid grade....at the time of buying it , there weren't alot of decent transports under the $1000 price tag...now that CD's are making a come back...there are alot more transports

Even Wal-Mart is selling CD's again..Amazon also has alot to chose from to.

Got it. Looks like it's the entry piece to get people to see the Azur 851C the DAC, Pre amp, CD player combo device. Interesting how their catalog is tiered like that, but it's cool to see the wide product range. I bet there are many other competitors to Cambridge that offer well priced, similar value devices if that CD player isn't the move for my ole CD setup. It's all I'd need as I have the speakers and DAC and Amps to complete the chain.