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  3. 142546-124043

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
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
itsjustme
91 posts
 
Oh, one interesting caveat.  We had a group listn to two old DACs - that were eye -popping whne they came out 20-25 years ago, and one new one, a schiit BiFrost Multibit.  Long story short the 1994 Theta DSPro hung on with the Schiit - and was generally a little weightier.  Still a top notch, musical product. Note Mike designed both.
G
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