DAC - To buy or to not buy(Confused)

O&B HCA300 Power Amplifier
ravi_d said:
@abhi_jollyguy
No, I couldn't find much difference here. I used an coaxial cable to connect the cd player to DAC. Putting it in numbers I can say its not even 5% better with DAC. May be the 24-bit/192kHz Burr Brown DAC in the cd player is doing the job well or the DAC is not broken-in yet (haven't put even 10 hours of usage) or may be my speakers are not up to the mark in showing the difference.
Having most of the music collection in the laptop it makes more sense for me having the DAC in between the laptop and amp.

For you it make a difference using it with the DVD Player and WDTV.
Also note that buying Caiman DAC from UK you would be saving 7k - 8k INR than buying a DacMagic in India.



Yes, I'm using NAD c356BEE and Mission M32i. Still haven't upgraded the speakers yet.
Click to expand...

I think I shouldn't buy DAC now:). As u said it showed less than 5% difference or can say exact 5% difference in sound quality, Let's assume if I buy DAC and it showed me 10% improvement in sound quality so I think it will not be a wisest decision to spend 20k on DAC just to get 10% improvement in sound quality. This is what I think only. :)

Also When I play 320 kbps and then play FLAC so I always sees improvement in SQ. That is why decided to download every song in FLAC format from now on:licklips:
 
abhi_jollyguy said:
I think I shouldn't buy DAC now:). As u said it showed less than 5% difference or can say exact 5% difference in sound quality, Let's assume if I buy DAC and it showed me 10% improvement in sound quality so I think it will not be a wisest decision to spend 20k on DAC just to get 10% improvement in sound quality. This is what I think only. :)

Also When I play 320 kbps and then play FLAC so I always sees improvement in SQ. That is why decided to download every song in FLAC format from now on:licklips:
Click to expand...

Ok great.

Playing flacs from laptop with DAC sounds equally good as playing a CD from my CD player. And the mp3's sound even better with the DAC in the equation.:)
The difference I noticed is less when comparing the built in DAC in the CD Player with DacMagic. Also please understand that my views were subjective.
Hope I didn't confuse you here :D
 
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ravi_d said:
Ok great.

Playing flacs from laptop with DAC sounds equally good as playing a CD from my CD player. And the mp3's sound even better with the DAC in the equation.:)
The difference I noticed is less when comparing the built in DAC in the CD Player with DacMagic. Also please understand that my views were subjective.
Hope I didn't confuse you here :D
Click to expand...

Could u plz elaborate ur this post coz it confused me:rolleyes:
 
abhi_jollyguy said:
Could u plz elaborate ur this post coz it confused me:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Laptop --> AMP --> Speakers
Vs
Laptop --> DAC --> AMP --> Speakers

I see the improvement is huge with the DAC. MP3's sounded better than before. Flac's sounded as good as playing a CD from a dedicated CD player.


CD-Player --> AMP --> Speakers
Vs
CD-Player --> DAC --> AMP --> Speakers

The improvement is little with external DacMagic using digital out bypassing the built-in DAC in the CD Player. That CD-Player I'm using has a 24-bit/192kHz Burr-Brown DAC which is a pretty decent one than the DAC you find in entry level CD-Players. Though I got that CD-Player for 99 an ex display item in a clearance sale the new one retails at 250 and above.
The test I did is not a proper test. The external DAC is slightly better in this case though the difference is not as huge as using the laptop as a source. The reason for me not finding much difference could be the DAC is not broken-in or the speakers I have are not capable of showing the difference much. Once the DAC is run-in and with better speakers the difference could be more.

Definitely a CD transport with an external DAC should be much better then an equivalent internal built-in DAC. It has the same advantages as using a pre amp + power amp combo than an integrated amplifier.
 
@abhi_jollyguy

Let me put it this way. If you have a decent dedicated CD Player as a source say a NAD C 545BEE CD Player or a MARANTZ CD6003 CD PLAYER or better then you don't need an external DAC as they have pretty decent built-in DAC's. In this case you may not benefit much from an external DAC.

If you have a pretty old CD Player or an entry level CD Player as a source then you may benefit from an decent external DAC. Or a Laptop as a source which may have a cheap sound card you may see a huge difference with a decent external DAC.
 
I am really surprised that the OP is still confused on the purpose of a DAC even after the thread crossed 15 pages.
 
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ravi_d said:
@abhi_jollyguy

Let me put it this way. If you have a decent dedicated CD Player as a source say a NAD C 545BEE CD Player or a MARANTZ CD6003 CD PLAYER or better then you don't need an external DAC as they have pretty decent built-in DAC's. In this case you may not benefit much from an external DAC.

If you have a pretty old CD Player or an entry level CD Player as a source then you may benefit from an decent external DAC. Or a Laptop as a source which may have a cheap sound card you may see a huge difference with a decent external DAC.
Click to expand...

I have DVD-Player which u can see in my SIG and but I use 100% WD TV Live and I think it has realtek sound chip built-in.
 
abhi_jollyguy said:
U have Quad 22L2 and WD TV Live. So how much improvement u have seen after putting up Caiman DAC in ur setup?
Click to expand...

Abhi, I have said this before. You cannot quantify the 'improvement' you hear through a DAC. What you should is to (1) set a list of quality sound standards that your looking for, and (2) see if the DAC meets those standards.

Let me also assure you that a decent DAC will always be better than what you get from a media player as they expect you to use digital out most of the time. The priority of a media player is to play as many format as possible with least amount of noise.

If you are really worried about cost and your father's angst, you should not take this path. What will happen, if I say one DAC will give you 50% improvement. You buy the DAC and you don't like the sound? What will you do then? Sound is subjective and you have to make up your mind based on your ears - not those of others.

Cheers
 
abhi_jollyguy said:
U have Quad 22L2 and WD TV Live. So how much improvement u have seen after putting up Caiman DAC in ur setup?
Click to expand...

I can say 20-30% which is a significant amount. I can easily differentiate the sound coming from both.
Compared to a DVDP, the gap is more. Even with my previous Nakamichi RE-10 Integrated the difference can be found easily.
Compared to CDP, it depends on the DAC used inside.
 
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cmsajith said:
I can say 20-30% which is a significant amount. I can easily differentiate the sound coming from both.
Compared to a DVDP, the gap is more. Even with my previous Nakamichi RE-10 Integrated the difference can be found easily.
Compared to CDP, it depends on the DAC used inside.
Click to expand...

Hmm ok:) Let me save some money to spend on DAC then:p
 
cmsajith said:
What about your previous post? (http://www.hifivision.com/cd-players/14941-dac-buy-not-buy-confused-15.html#post210908)

Thats is why I was surprised (on seeing a lot of fluctuations even with in 3 or 4 posts itself.)
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well as u have very gud bookshelves and WD TV Live too and u have seen the difference of say 30% in sound quality so that is why I think that I need to save some money before putting on DAC coz I can't compromise on getting a DAC of Rs. 5k-7k. This is all I wanna say before:)
 
Hi

In ur post u said when u use DAC in conjunction to laptop before the amplifier...you hear nice...i just want to know...what form of output you give to the DAC...if its digital then ur external dac will be having all processing in there...if u give analogue output via laptop then much of the quality loss will be there since ADc and then DAC conversion causes loss of quality...and more over i feel buying a nice dac is inportant than upgrading speakers...i have been this through...coz unless u get the high qulaity signal ...how can u expect ur nad 356 bee to amplify...The quality of sound depends only upon the source when connected to a very nice amplifier...i recommend you to buy a nice DAC to improve quality..
 
Cnu said:
Hi

In ur post u said when u use DAC in conjunction to laptop before the amplifier...you hear nice...i just want to know...what form of output you give to the DAC...if its digital then ur external dac will be having all processing in there...if u give analogue output via laptop then much of the quality loss will be there since ADc and then DAC conversion causes loss of quality...and more over i feel buying a nice dac is inportant than upgrading speakers...i have been this through...coz unless u get the high qulaity signal ...how can u expect ur nad 356 bee to amplify...The quality of sound depends only upon the source when connected to a very nice amplifier...i recommend you to buy a nice DAC to improve quality..
Click to expand...

@Cnu
The DAC doesn't take an analog input.
At the moment I'm using the USB cable supplied with the DacMagic.
As suggested by venkatcr I ordered an QED optical interconnect for connecting the laptop from the SP/DIF out.
 
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