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Some components too old now?

I have a traditional HiFi. Some bits are really old, but still working fine and I wouldn’t have a clue about updating even if I wanted to. Just wondering how long I can expect them to last, and whether I should pro-actively seek to update before there’s a catastrophic failure.
In particular, my CD player, pre-amp and DAC date back to around 1990, so these are about 30 years old now:
Marantz CD80 / Aragon 24k (with phono stage that I use) / Aragon D2A
Thoughts?
vinyloid
vinyloid's avatar
vinyloid OP
17 posts
 
Thanks for all your comments. Boiling it all down, it seems that the only thing I should consider is potentially changing my Aragon DAC.
Does anyone know much about the Aragon D2A? It has a separate power supply, and I remember that in its day it was considered one of the best.
gdnrbob
2,421 posts
 
Like you said, it was one of the best in its' day, but that was more than 20 years ago. I think you'll find just about any DAC built recently will be a significant improvement.
I found a link to another forum (hopefully allowed) asking the same question:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/dacs-old-vs-new.3229/
B
vinyloid's avatar
vinyloid OP
17 posts
 
Hmm. Thanks gdnrbob - really interesting.
Reading that thread, and over-summarising again, it seems as though a really good 90’s DAC (like the Aragon) will still sound as good as a decent modern one, but the difference is a modern one will have far more functionality. 
Is that the way you read it?
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
The newer connections USB and HDMI n particular may or may not be needed. I was using a DAC from the mid 90's myself until just this past Summer. I paid $250 for it. ($1000 list). To find something really better cost me $7000. So sure there are better DACs... They also cost a lot more. Spending $500, $800 for a new DAC today probably is not going to do a lot for you... Except add a USB port. Lateral move...
On the other hand, I am certain the Yggdrasil ($2300) is pretty good too. And if I had not wanted to splurge on the Marantz SA-10, I would have bought a Yeggy. And I should have considered the PS Audio.. but my dealer carried the Marantz..
itsjustme
91 posts
 
I dont know those specific components well, but in general i agree with Eric and others.  The preamp is probably fine the DAC likely can be vastly bettered ( and Schiit is a great place to start). I can't speak for the Marantz, but bear in mind that SPDIF is NOT, repeat NOT, a purely digital signal - no time to go into why, by you need a low jitter output.
A new DAC with USB and/or network in also lets you move toward the future, which is streaming.
I am constantly amazed that stuff that was great 30 years ago is often still great. But not digital.
G
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