Mystic
We're all born mad
This is what my brother uses and I think it sounds great.
Bill Murray
Active Member
I have a JVC 6+1 changer. It works fine, and it has RCA and DAC outputs. The fact it has a DAC output is what got me to thinking about an external DAC.
Bill Murray
Active Member
JVC XL-M705. I think it was about their totl circa 1990s.
Bill Murray
Active Member
Thanks for the tip and the link. Haven't decided yet but this may be the way I go.
AudioAvarice
Super Member
Nice CD player, shame it doesn't use their K2 technology, despite that, I think you'll be surprised by how good the onboard DAC really is.
One of our fellow AKers had pretty much given up on CDs until he got a TOL "vintage" player. Seems to have changed his view of CDs. If you already have one you may be golden.
Looks like it’s a JVC proprietary chip, not much information out there about it, but sounds like it was better than the Multibit technology of that time.
Try some other DAC's ..
Use your ears ..
It's all a system .. What you're listening to is limited in one way or another by every piece in the system ..
The JVC is your source component .. If the JVC"S DAC is limiting (likely) what you hear, you'll never know the potential of the rest of the system.
Try a couple DAC's that allow returns .. and I'd recommend a pair of good interconnects to go along with it ..
If everything sounds better, it'll be well worth it ..
Use your ears ..
It's all a system .. What you're listening to is limited in one way or another by every piece in the system ..
The JVC is your source component .. If the JVC"S DAC is limiting (likely) what you hear, you'll never know the potential of the rest of the system.
Try a couple DAC's that allow returns .. and I'd recommend a pair of good interconnects to go along with it ..
If everything sounds better, it'll be well worth it ..
This limiting of potential you speak of. Is that;
-Noise
-Distortion
-Dynamic range
-Frequency response
?
Also; I couldn't find any information about the DAC in his CD transport other than it was a special JVC chip. It seems you know more about it than I could find if you think it is a bottle neck in his system.
Garbage in ... garbage out ..
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Of course. But that hardly answers the questions why you seem to think the existing CD player/DAC is "garbage". JVC made some pretty great CD transports.
I found the service manual for the JVC XL-M705 on freeservicemanuals.info
This is the specs. Pretty damn good. If it still holds up today it is highly unlikely that any audible advantages are gained from using another DAC.
Surely it means that it is technically capable of exceeding the DR of a red book CD std. so that the chip and circuit is not the limiting factor of the source. The chip is 20-bit.
I also found this post:
Vintage CD Players and their old outdated DACs
No it’s not the XE. I didn’t want to pop the top in store pre-purchase. Even though it was only $15 I wasn’t willing to buy it not knowing more about its guts. Another option is to try to find the service manual. The DAC will be listed in the parts list in the IC section.
audiokarma.org
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I've listened closely to many DAC's ..
They all differ in tone, timbre, and impact ..
Depending on the resolution of the downstream, and the listener's hearing acuity, those differences may or may not count to the listener ..
Music is subtle and most of what's musically important isn't measurable with anything but an ear ..
Which measurement differentiates a Martin guitar from a Gibson ??
I can certainly hear the difference and I like a system that is good enough to reproduce those subtleties ..
Try a different DAC or three .. It's the source component that produces the details, and the rest of the system can't reproduce what isn't there. ..
(and incidentally those CD player's DAC's have been sounding different from each other since their introduction in the 80's)
They all differ in tone, timbre, and impact ..
Depending on the resolution of the downstream, and the listener's hearing acuity, those differences may or may not count to the listener ..
Music is subtle and most of what's musically important isn't measurable with anything but an ear ..
Which measurement differentiates a Martin guitar from a Gibson ??
I can certainly hear the difference and I like a system that is good enough to reproduce those subtleties ..
Try a different DAC or three .. It's the source component that produces the details, and the rest of the system can't reproduce what isn't there. ..
(and incidentally those CD player's DAC's have been sounding different from each other since their introduction in the 80's)
Tone and timbre, being two sides of same coin, can be measured just fine. Impact.. What do you mean by this?
What's musically important is, IMO, the ability to play back the digitally stored track without colouration. Reaching certain thresholds, there are no longer any audible cues to distinguish two DACs that meet this criteria. I've tested many DACs blind and any that measured flat and had inaudible distortion and noise were not different sounding.
And we have yet to see any proper conducted blind tests that say otherwise.
When a DAC does not meet the thresholds and does not have flat frequency response then all bets are off.
Looking at the specs. from the JVC CD player in question leads me to assume that it is perfectly capable of transparently reproduce the same sound as other quality DACs.
P.S. I'm not doubting two different guitars sound different. It would show in a frequency response measurement.
yes, +2 for comments. The better DACs blow away any chip set you are going to find in a stand alone CD player. There are many more factors besides the chip set that impact sonics such as PS noise, clock accuracy, components used in the analog out section. It becomes one of those 2 second tests.
Power supply noise; -Noise would show in measurement
Clock accuracy; -Jitter noise would show in measurement
Bill Ferris
Lunatic Member
FWIW, For over 10 yrs. I`ve been using a high quality INDAY 4X1 switcher (DA4X-R) that is made on the west coast of the USA.
It can be connected either for S/DIF coax, or Toslink, with its dual input/outputs, and even will convert internally from one digital signal type to the other (S/PDIF coax plugged into its inputs and Toslink used for it selected output, or vise versa), though I`ve never used that function, but only use it to switch between my 4 S/PDIF coax digital music sources to my excellent sounding Pro-Ject DAC.
Comes with a watch battery powered micro sized IR remote.
Mine hasn`t been turned off since installation, and is powered by a small SMPS wall wart.
Go to inday.com for more complete information, if interested.
I`ve recommended this HQ switcher to several A/K members since my purchase, and they have been totally satisfied with its performance, enough to thank me.