CD player or ext. DA-converter?

[spirovious]

Hi,

I want to improve my current setup & stereo SQ.
current setup-

DVD player - Onida
AVR - Onkyo
Fronts - Tannoy mercury F1 custom

I was advised to have dedicated CD player.
I am offered Marantz CD-63 for Rs.8k appxox.
But I dont want to go for many players at a time.

My Q is-

1.If I purchase only external DA-converter (DAC),will it do the job of CD player to improve SQ?
2.Is my idea to connect DAC with coax of DVD player will do the job?
3.Do DAC improve evenif I connect DVD player with analoge output?
4.Is marantz CD-63 a better SH option?

Why I choose DAC is that I can connect it to portable VCD player also.

So pls. guide me.

 

[arj]

Given a choice a good CDP is better and more cost efffective than a Transport+DAc combo. but the dac give the flexibility of more options if you have multiple digital sources ie regular CDs as well as a PC/HDD based source as well.

regarding your setup. how is the AVR connected to your DVDP ?
if you have connected it via analogue out then try to connect the digital..this itself might improve the sound as the AVR usually has a better DAC than the DVDp

But if you have already connected it to digital, if you want to add a DAC, you either will have to connect it via the TOSlink or keep switching the connection for Movies/Music. (OR you could change the setup of the DVD to send out PCM out for DVDs as well)

1.If I purchase only external DA-converter (DAC),will it do the job of CD player to improve SQ?

with a Good DAC and a Good Digital Cable you will find an improvement. a good difgital cable could be around 1K

2.Is my idea to connect DAC with coax of DVD player will do the job?

if you mean the digital out..Yes.

3.Do DAC improve evenif I connect DVD player with analoge output?

not sure if you mean connecting the Analogue output of the DVD to the DAC..that will not work as the Dac converts digital to analogue...the dac will not work with anlogue outputs.

4.Is marantz CD-63 a better SH option?

it is a good player but old so do check out how it plays. replacement of the lens of this player is very easy though and aparently available easily as well. and any qualified tech could do it. but a cdpplayer is the audio component most susceptible to wear and tear as it is based on mechanical rotation.

 

[spirovious]

I have connected DVDp via profigold coax to AVR.
I can connect OPt to DAC.
Can you suggest cheap & better DAC available in India?
I have heard it comes btwn 4k to 7k.

 

[dichkaun]

I recently add a Beresford TC-7510 (Beresford Media & Electronics) between my LG DVD player and CA amp.
IMHO, the sound quality has vastly improved. Certain instruments which were never heard on some CDs seem to have appeared from nowhere.
Definitely worth the 100GBP I spent.

~dich

 

[spirovious]

I recently add a Beresford TC-7510 (Beresford Media & Electronics) between my LG DVD player and CA amp.
IMHO, the sound quality has vastly improved. Certain instruments which were never heard on some CDs seem to have appeared from nowhere.
Definitely worth the 100GBP I spent.

~dich

How much Rs. for that & where?

 

[dichkaun]

How much Rs. for that & where?

I got a friend to pick up for me from London for 100GBP.

 

[psychotropic]

anyone tried Cambridge Audio's DACmagic?

 

[robot]

I have connected DVDp via profigold coax to AVR.
I can connect OPt to DAC.
Can you suggest cheap & better DAC available in India?
I have heard it comes btwn 4k to 7k.

Hi, there is no Dac in 4-7k in India !! In fact you will not find any made in India Dac...........coz audio industry is not so grown here hence gadgets are very hard to find as no one makes it. I heard one Chinese Dac at another forum members house & as he suggested i got one for my self from china through one of my friend. Im using dvd player for cd & connected this Dac with tos cable it improved the over all detail and body ! Im happy with it & it made my life so easy coz i wanted to buy creative or m-audio sound card as i listen to mp3 the most..................thankfully he gave me clear ideas & suggestions according to my rig of music! This Dac has given me so much flexibility that i couldn't have asked for more ! Coz any good computer sound will cost 8-16k & the quality & connectivity options are not at par with what i got for 13k from china !
I dont think that i will ever invest in CD player in coming 8-10 years, unless and until i have lots of extra money to burn !

 

[odyssey]

The Marantz 63 is a very good CDP, more so if its the HDAM version. It also has a digital volume control which you can use to connect to an amp directly

cheers

 

[spirovious]

anyone tried Cambridge Audio's DACmagic?

CA DAC can pass through 5.1 aud via coax output.When stereo signal is
received then it processes & pass via analogue.

Kindly rate DACs-

Cirrus logic,Burrbrown ,Wolfson

Which is better?

What abt Parasound DAC?

 

[RB9]

CA DAC can pass through 5.1 aud via coax output.When stereo signal is
received then it processes & pass via analogue.

Kindly rate DACs-

Cirrus logic,Burrbrown ,Wolfson

Which is better?

What abt Parasound DAC?

cirrus logic is best in lot & more expensive also.

 

[grubyhalo]

From what I understand, the quality of the DAC depends more on the implementation of a particular chipset rather than the chipset itself. A DAC chip itself (Wolfson, CL...) typically goes for about $5-10, if I'm not totally wrong. From what I know, the Wolfson 8740's are pretty good DAC chips and comes with players like the Arcam FMJ 33, CA Azure 740, CA DacMagic etc. My 2-cents would be to try listening to the DAC themselves and not be too keen on the DAC chip. Ofcourse, since most of the DAC's are not sold in India, you may just have to read up on user reviews and make the jump.

Ofcourse, YMMV.

 

[spirovious]

From what I understand, the quality of the DAC depends more on the implementation of a particular chipset rather than the chipset itself. A DAC chip itself (Wolfson, CL...) typically goes for about $5-10, if I'm not totally wrong. From what I know, the Wolfson 8740's are pretty good DAC chips and comes with players like the Arcam FMJ 33, CA Azure 740, CA DacMagic etc. My 2-cents would be to try listening to the DAC themselves and not be too keen on the DAC chip. Ofcourse, since most of the DAC's are not sold in India, you may just have to read up on user reviews and make the jump.

Ofcourse, YMMV.

I have 2 DACs in mind.

1. CA DAC magic with wolfson DAc(Dual Wolfson WM8740 24bit DACs)
Texas Instruments TMS 320VC5501 DSP upsampling to 24bit 192kHz

2.Parasound HD1100 with Burrbrown (chip PCM 63P-J 20bit pull ,push both ch)

Looking at speci CA looks better as 24bit?
But if SQ defference is very little Then which is better company?

Even 24bit/96 kHzs TC 7510 Beresford is also enjoyed by forum members.

 

[venkatcr]

Spirovious, I think you have asked the same question in some other thread. I did a quick comparison of the two DACs, and they are very close technically.

DACMagic uses 24 bit word length as against Parasound's 20 bit.

The Parasound has the following advantages:

2Hz-20kHz as against DACMagic's 20Hz-20kHz
Oversampling upto 352kHZ as against DACMagic's 192kHz
4 DACs against DACMagic's 2 DACs.

But Parasound stopped manufacture of DACs in 1994, so what you will get are old units.

Please see the enclosed chart.

If you can afford it, I would go with DACMagic because of their advanced filtering technology that makes the main difference. They allow you to change the filtering method to suit your listening choice.

I have also read in this forum of many people who are happy with the Beresford DAC. That will be much cheaper.

Cheers

 

[grubyhalo]

I have 2 DACs in mind.

1. CA DAC magic with wolfson DAc(Dual Wolfson WM8740 24bit DACs)
Texas Instruments TMS 320VC5501 DSP upsampling to 24bit 192kHz

2.Parasound HD1100 with Burrbrown (chip PCM 63P-J 20bit pull ,push both ch)

Looking at speci CA looks better as 24bit?
But if SQ defference is very little Then which is better company?

Even 24bit/96 kHzs TC 7510 Beresford is also enjoyed by forum members.

I'm sorry if my post seems to suggest that there's not much difference in quality between the DAC's themselves. What I meant is that the DAC chips themselves, be it from Wolfson or Cirrus Logic, do not make the difference.

That said, between your 2 choices, I would go with the DacMagic II for a number of reasons. Though I have not heard it personally, it seems to get good user reviews. Also the upsampling and the 3-input option on the DacMagic is a definite plus for me. Also, the HD1100 seems to be discontinued. Are you planning to pick up a used piece? It appears that a new one was sold for about $1000, much higher than what the DacMagic II goes for these days.

 

[spirovious]

Spirovious, I think you have asked the same question in some other thread. I did a quick comparison of the two DACs, and they are very close technically.

DACMagic uses 24 bit word length as against Parasound's 20 bit.

The Parasound has the following advantages:

2Hz-20kHz as against DACMagic's 20Hz-20kHz
Oversampling upto 352kHZ as against DACMagic's 192kHz
4 DACs against DACMagic's 2 DACs.

But Parasound stopped manufacture of DACs in 1994, so what you will get are old units.

Please see the enclosed chart.

If you can afford it, I would go with DACMagic because of their advanced filtering technology that makes the main difference. They allow you to change the filtering method to suit your listening choice.

I have also read in this forum of many people who are happy with the Beresford DAC. That will be much cheaper.

Cheers

Thanks friend,

I was not getting sampling rate of Parasound.Thanks for information.
I m getteing sec.hand of Para.Any special thing to consider for 2nd DAC?

I simply want to improve Stereo SQ from my DVD player.

 

[robot]

Thanks friend,

I was not getting sampling rate of Parasound.Thanks for information.
I m getteing sec.hand of Para.Any special thing to consider for 2nd DAC?

I simply want to improve Stereo SQ from my DVD player.

my friend parasound hd1100 was out around 1994 or 95........just wanted to caution !
its approx 13-14 year old thing........if you are buying from friend or relative than its fine otherwise.................. i think most of the forum members will agree on this ! again it depends on the price also !
i remember my uncle had dac1000 from parasound, which died 2 years back !!
he almost cried but could not do much coz : it was a very old dac & it was very difficult to find the spares to make it sound again !
spend your wisely
good luck

 

[robot]

i think check with rb9, i bought mine after i auditioned his dac last month and that is for sale around17k ! its almost new, why dont you get in touch with him.

 

[maniac_2004]

I too am looking for a way to improve SQ was considering a CDP. But this method seems better but have a few queries

wud not the amp have a DAC of itself , what is the purpose of having another DAC ? Would not the source stream without decoding passed on to the amp act in the same way ? Kindly enlighten ... thanks

 

[reignofchaos]

Spirovious, I think you have asked the same question in some other thread. I did a quick comparison of the two DACs, and they are very close technically.

DACMagic uses 24 bit word length as against Parasound's 20 bit.

The Parasound has the following advantages:

2Hz-20kHz as against DACMagic's 20Hz-20kHz
Oversampling upto 352kHZ as against DACMagic's 192kHz
4 DACs against DACMagic's 2 DACs.

But Parasound stopped manufacture of DACs in 1994, so what you will get are old units.

Please see the enclosed chart.

If you can afford it, I would go with DACMagic because of their advanced filtering technology that makes the main difference. They allow you to change the filtering method to suit your listening choice.

I have also read in this forum of many people who are happy with the Beresford DAC. That will be much cheaper.

Cheers

Paper specs of DACs hardly mean anything. You can't compare the 192kHz upsampling of the DAC Magic with the 8x oversampler in the parasound. The clock on the DAC Magic would probably be in the low MHz range at the very least. However higher oversampling really doesn't mean that a DAC will sound better. All it does is it allows using lower tolerance components at the output stage.

I'm replacing my oversampling Citypulse DAC which oversamples 768x i.e. to 33.868 MHz with a non oversampling DAC with no output filters. On paper lack of output filters and a NOS chip like the Philips TDA1543/41 is no good and DAC should get obliterated by the Citypulse. However the reality is completely the opposite.

The DACMagic uses an opamp output stage while the Parasound is based on a discrete circuit. While a poorly designed discrete stage is worse than an opamp output stage, it is more likely that a discrete output stage will be far far better than opamps.

All said and done, I'd pick neither of those. I'd instead pick up a chinese DAC which offers far better value for money.