Oppo 205 and external DAC?


My goal is to utilize the balanced output of the Oppo but the amplifier(PL Dialogue HP) has unbalanced inputs. 

Excluding the modification route.

What external DAC would offer an improvement in SQ over the inboard Oppo DAC? Also with balanced connections, then of course switching to unbalanced from the dac to the PL.


recluse

Showing 1 response by audioengr

There are 2 ways to go here:

1) get a Final Drive transformer buffer to change from bal to SE:

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/products/final-drive

2) add an external DAC with SE outputs.

This will sound better, PROVIDING that you reclock the Oppo digital output and use a really good coax cable. Here is a jitter plot to show how much jitter before and after the Synchro-Mesh reclocker:

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154408.0

Here is the jitter added by different coax cables:

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154425.0

The only thing that matters when using a CD player as a transport is the jitter.  The Sychro-Mesh and a good BNC cable will cost ~$1025

Most decent DACs will beat the D/A in the Oppo, but you will need to spend $2-3K for new or $1-2K used. The best DAC will still sound mediocre without a low jitter source.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio