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new digital source

I just recently purchased my good 2-channel setup and now I'll need to pick up a digital source to go with. My current setup is a VTL 5.5 pre, VTL 450 monoblocks and Dynaudio C1 speakers. I want a digital source (it can be either CD player or DAC) that I'll use mostly for rock/metal (any other genres will be listened to on my turntable).

What I'm looking for is a big, deep soundstage and the instruments to be very clearly separated. I want to make sure that the double bass drum sits at the back, all the cymbals are clearly heard in the right spot, and the guitar(s) are clearly audible. I find that in the lower-end sources everything becomes a mess with fast songs, like most metal, and all instruments are hard to distinguish.
jibbonacci
jibbonacci OP
31 posts
 
I've already invested quite a bit in the amps and speakers so it wouldn't make sense not to make the most of it by getting a good source as well. I'd like to stay in the $5000 area or so.

I don't think I'd mind if I got a CD player. I'm used to switching sides on vinyl so switching CD's isn't a big deal. Of course if a DAC can offer the same sound quality that would probably be more convenient, but convenience is not a priority. If I were to go with a DAC I'd probably use it with a Squeezebox at first (streaming either wav or flac files), the Sony 595 as a transport, and in the future I could add a PC in which case I'd probably use a Lynx sound card and use the AES output.
pani
1,049 posts
 
Hi, Jibbonacci,
I am selling a brand new Bluenote Stibbert here on Audiogon for a fraction of its new retail. You can read about this outstanding player all over the internet. Here is the link to the listing:
http://www.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?dgtlplay&1270583415&/Bluenote-Stibbert-latest-2009-

Let me know if you are interested.
robertbrown
151 posts
 
look at MSB TECH I own a platinum DAC II and it can be upgraded to be close to the new DAC iV the DACII is so good you don't need to do any changes
If price is a problem you can look at the earliers series and I have a 10 year old CD Player hook up yo it and it
sounds great its the dac not so much the player its self
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