Mjcmt said:
"Musicfile,
I must state once again to really consider an outboard dac with a computer or cheap DVD player as your transport. This is the future."
I concur with Mjcmt. Some of us may not want a computer in the listening space, but wired and wireless interfaces are making remote connections not only practical but also audiophile standard.
Musicfile has a decent CDP that can be used as a transport with the best DAC that he can afford. With a good DAC, he'll almost certainly hear a major improvement. Hopefully he'll be able to audition a few candidates in his system. In my case, using a baseline Oppo as a universal transport or even an iPod/Wadia interface and feeding it to my Playback Designs' MPS-5 yields an end signal with the Oppo that almost equals playback throught he PD's Esoteric transport. The iPod/Wadia actually equals the CD playback through the PD. The improvement of the Oppo is substantial and easily heard.
So, the DAC is critical and can (should) upgrade all the digital inputs of your system. Look for a DAC that includes digital inputs in several formats and reclocks the source. Listen to DACs with upsampling schemes and decide if you want that or not. (I love that in mine, but it's ends up being a very expensive machine).
Dave
"Musicfile,
I must state once again to really consider an outboard dac with a computer or cheap DVD player as your transport. This is the future."
I concur with Mjcmt. Some of us may not want a computer in the listening space, but wired and wireless interfaces are making remote connections not only practical but also audiophile standard.
Musicfile has a decent CDP that can be used as a transport with the best DAC that he can afford. With a good DAC, he'll almost certainly hear a major improvement. Hopefully he'll be able to audition a few candidates in his system. In my case, using a baseline Oppo as a universal transport or even an iPod/Wadia interface and feeding it to my Playback Designs' MPS-5 yields an end signal with the Oppo that almost equals playback throught he PD's Esoteric transport. The iPod/Wadia actually equals the CD playback through the PD. The improvement of the Oppo is substantial and easily heard.
So, the DAC is critical and can (should) upgrade all the digital inputs of your system. Look for a DAC that includes digital inputs in several formats and reclocks the source. Listen to DACs with upsampling schemes and decide if you want that or not. (I love that in mine, but it's ends up being a very expensive machine).
Dave