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DAC sound better than CD player?

L

Lossless

Super Member
Here we go again! Today, since snow/ice knocked out any chances of streaming Hi-Res music, I was doing a little sound comparison between my Oppo BDP-83 Blu-Ray/SACD player and my Meridian Explorer2 USB DAC playing through dedicated ASUS Windows 8.1 HTPC, PotPlayer music software player, with external LG slim DVD/CD player.
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The results were a little surprising. The Meridian Explorer2 USB DAC blew the Oppo BDP-83 out of the water!!! The CD I was using for the test was Fleetwood Mac~The Dance live concert CD. The Meridian Explorer2 opened up that music CD like Iv'e never it heard before. Soundstage, punchier bass, guitar, vocals, everything was 3D sounding. The icing on the cake were the last two tracks on the CD that incorporate a marching band. I felt like I was right there at the concert! I had a lighter in the air swaying back and forth. I really couldn't believe how much difference there was between the highly recommended Oppo BDP-83 SACD player and the Meridian Explorer2 USB DAC playing through my Mid-Fi stereo. Why there was such a profound difference; I'm going to have to do a little more research. The Meridian Explorer2 supposedly does some form of "upsampling" to 24bit/192kHz for files less than 16bit/48kHz and utilizes a proprietary Meridian apodising filter to significantly reduce pre & post-ringing found in some DAC digital filters. I can believe that after hearing what I did from this tiny USB DAC.

Doe's your DAC sound better than your CD players DAC?

DACs upsampling 16bit/44.1 to 24bit/192? How can you even do that?

Oppo BDP-83 for sale, just kidding.
 
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I think my Bryston BDP-pi digital player and Emotiva XDA-2 Gen 2 DAC sound better than my Oppo BDP-83SE. I don't think the the Bryston/Emotiva combo blows the Oppo "out of the water," but I do think they sound better, pretty much in the ways you describe.
 
Calypte said:
I think my Bryston BDP-pi digital player and Emotiva XDA-2 Gen 2 DAC sound better than my Oppo BDP-83SE. I don't think the the Bryston/Emotiva combo blows the Oppo "out of the water," but I do think they sound better, pretty much in the ways you describe.
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You have the Oppo BDP-83 special edition that has the improved analog output stages too. That Emotive XDA-2 Gen 2 DAC, also a nice unit, upsamples the audio.
 
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My Marantz player sounds better than my Oppo, the Topping D30 didn't sound as good as the Marantz, the Mobi MB sounds a little better than the Marantz. Namely pulling things out of the background and a bit more 3D. This through my Quartets, I don't do headphones.
 
:dunno: … don't really spin CD's any more .. if it's not on streaming I usually rip the CD to Laptop hd or SD card.

Do know that when I took the coaxial out of my old Cambridge Audio DVD89 to my old Schiit M2U .. the sound of my DVD audio (Joe Bonamassa concerts) was freakin unreal.

It's not like the DVD89 (standalone sound) was a slouch either .. it just sounded so much better using external DAC. Both units were replaced .. so it's a moot point now.
 
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Condorsat said:
:dunno: … don't really spin CD's any more .. if it's not on streaming I usually rip the CD to Laptop hd or SD card.
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That's my next move; To Rip over 300 CDs to a hard drive. When I actually get out my listening chair to do it is a whole other story.

Being an Audiophile is a job not a hobby!;)
 
Lossless said:
That's my next move; To Rip over 300 CDs to a hard drive. When I actually get out my listening chair to do it is a whole other story.

Being an Audiophile is a job not a hobby!;)
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Then there are idiotic moments like I had where I forgot that the thumb drive wasn't the backup but instead the only copy of all my ripped music when I thought it would be a great idea to format it.
 
invaderzim said:
Then there are idiotic moments like I had where I forgot that the thumb drive wasn't the backup but instead the only copy of all my ripped music when I thought it would be a great idea to format it.
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I like having the hard copy and the nostalgia of a CD. Placing the case directly in the center of my listening space and seeing a picture of the artist gives the impression that they’re singing to me personally.:music:
Having a visual representation also vastly improves the soundstage. :bs:
 
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Lossless said:
That's my next move; To Rip over 300 CDs to a hard drive.
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When I got my Bryston BDP-pi digital player early last year, I promised myself that I would rip only a very small part of my CD collection to hard disk. There are too many things I play rarely, if at all. Why bother? Well, guess what? Most of my collection of 3,000 or so CDs has been ripped to hard disk. Once I got into a routine and settled on what I wanted to do -- how I wanted to organize it, where to get cover art and metadata -- I found that it was very easy to rip CDs while watching TV. Most of my collection is classical music, with a bit of jazz and what most of you would probably call "soft rock" -- The Doors, Eagles.

This project originated when I attended a hi-end audio show in L.A. in 2017. Except for those few rooms that were playing vinyl, nearly every demo was using a digital player. The reps were cuing up tracks on tablets or laptops. I wanted that! I don't think I saw a CD player in the entire show.
 
Lossless said:
You have the Oppo BDP-83 special edition that has the improved analog output stages too. That Emotive XDA-2 Gen 2 DAC, also a nice unit, upsamples the audio.
Click to expand...

You can enable/disable the ASRC (Asynchronous Sampling Rate Converter) for the XDA-2 on the fly from the remote. This makes it easy to do a comparison between up-sampled and straight through.
 
Condorsat said:
:dunno: … don't really spin CD's any more .. if it's not on streaming I usually rip the CD to Laptop hd or SD card.

Do know that when I took the coaxial out of my old Cambridge Audio DVD89 to my old Schiit M2U .. the sound of my DVD audio (Joe Bonamassa concerts) was freakin unreal.

It's not like the DVD89 (standalone sound) was a slouch either .. it just sounded so much better using external DAC. Both units were replaced .. so it's a moot point now.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don’t have much use for a CD player. I’ve digitized over 700 CDs and transferred them to my Apple MacBook Pro. For a DAC, I’m using a AudioQuest DragonFly (Red) and the results are amazing! :)
 
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SA7I said:
Yeah, I don’t have much use for a CD player. I’ve digitized over 700 CDs and transferred them to my MacBook Pro. For a DAC, I’m using a AudioQuest DragonFly (Red) and the results are amazing! :)
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I stream mostly but do rip some CD's that are not available on Tidal. Only physical media I spin & listen to is vinyl.

Here's the weird thing though (hind sight 20/20) .. I've discovered that I enjoy digital way better when I'm listening to files o_O (even if it was originally on CD) .. go figure. The only standard Redbook CD player that I ever really loved :hug: (out of ones I've owned).. was the AH! NJOE TJOEB 4000 CD Player .. tubed output stage .. maybe colored the sound to my liking. :dunno:
 
Condorsat said:
I stream mostly but do rip some CD's that are not available on Tidal. Only physical media I spin & listen to is vinyl.

Here's the weird thing though (hind sight 20/20) .. I've discovered that I enjoy digital way better when I'm listening to files o_O (even if it was originally on CD) .. go figure. The only standard Redbook CD player that I ever really loved :hug: (out of ones I've owned).. was the AH! NJOE TJOEB 4000 CD Player .. tubed output stage .. maybe colored the sound to my liking. :dunno:
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To be completely honest, I think it’s all in your head :p. The only reason I’m listening to files rather than CDs is because it is more convenient.
 
Oppo's are mostly universal players. What players are you using to compare and with what DAC's
 
I would expect a good DAC to make an improvement over a lot of the internal DAC's built into a CD player unless the CD player is a fairly high end model.
Many CD players are built to a price point and few low cost players or even medium priced CD players will have a DAC section that can compete with a good stand alone DAC.
It's a bit like integrated receivers with everything or stand alone components.

BillWojo
 
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