DACs Who needs one? - Do I?

Being fairy new to HiFi - wel post eighties - just making a comeback and enjoying finding all those lost favourites, now available on CD, and the odd really good vinyl in charity shops and jumble sales. The question is do I need a DAC? CD is a Marantz 67SE, pre amp - Tag McLaren into two (by the end of the week) Monarchy Audio SM70 Pros and out through Elac 301 jets -

IF so?

What is a bargain availabe on Ebay - one with an attenuator plus balanced outputs might do the trick?

Is a DAC worth the expense?

 

it depends really. there are 2 possibly 3 'big' reasons for a dac.

1) you have multiple digital sources (cd, pc audio, dab, minidisk, dat, etc.) and want to improve all of them in one hit.

2) you have an existing 'transport' and want to improve it and get maximum bang for your buck - this is very dependant on synergy between transport and dac (imho, ime, etc. some say transports don;t make a difference, some say an upsampling dac is transport independant, some say the opposite, it's a whole can of worms, i say trust your own ears).

3) you have only digital sources and want to go the direct injection route. i.e find a dac with a digital volume control a la wadia, audio synthesis, etc. and connect the dac directly to your power amps thus bypassing the need for a pre amp. some love it some hate it.

most other reasons boil down to cosmetics / willy waving however if you think a dac improves the sound of your cd replay then great.
biggest thing is to try before you buy or make sure that you can sell again for at least what you paid.
cheers


julian.

 

Of course you need one, its another toy to play with!!

Do you have a budget if you did want one?

Actually I think the Behringer DEQ2496 is a pretty good DAC. And when modded it is unbeatable. It is a lot more than just a DAC though! Worth hearing.

 

Also separate DAC/ Transport does allow you to upgrade in stages. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have a front end as good as I've got if I'd had a one box player.

Jeff

 

where in Scotland are you? There are quite a few ZG's scattered about this part of the world and several have DACs - and hearing is believing.

 

Is the cheapest Behringer here?

http://www.instrumentpro.co.uk/P-BEHDEQ2496.html

 

To DAC or Not To DAC

IM way up north on one of the Shetland Isles.

 

Thats about the price. It varies by about £10 here and there I wouldn't worry about it.

 

Well not cheap but a bargain none the less:

https://www.audio-forums.com/as-rediect/showthread.php?t=12188



Ultra

 

which one? I once stayed on Fetlar (as well as Mainland) in my yoof. had a great address for a while:
Tresta
Fetlar
Shetland
Scotland

I once had an Arcam CD72 (its now 'on loan' to daughter) and the difference that a dedicated dac has meant is HUGE, albeit that I now do have first-class dac (with vol control so I can do without an 'interfering' pre-amp), and with a s/h transport that cost not a lot. So do try a walk on the dac side ...

 

Home on the Range

 

'what a difference a dac makes ...'

a lot depends on your budget. As indicated earlier, and see sig., the Dax Decade and other dax's by AudioSynthesis enjoy good reputation here and elsewhere, and can be had s/h on such as hififorsale.com. The Balanced version costs more of course (but is now what I have, to good effect) as does the Black Gates upgrade (ditto). There is also the Dax2, that Julian had at one time. On my upigrade path I also had the older Meridian 203 and 606, which were cheaper buys but bought with the 200 and 602 transports, both of which are good value.

 

I'd also recommend looking at that Behringer DEQ2496 if room issues is a worry, and soon or later it will be something you worry about, like much else ....

 

Quite a Toy

Checked out the website. My goodness if ever you get fed up with the music, what a toy - could keep you fiddling for ever - One question tho - can you attenuate the output, like a volume control so that it could connect directly to the power amps?

 

You can but not easily. It is not designed to be a pre-amp. There is an input attenuation of -15dB and another -15dB on the dynamics section. On the back of the unit there is also a switch for pro or consumer output levels so using all these together gives a lot of control over the level but is a pain and not good for the sound quality.

 

Thanks for that - thought I had found a cheap way to go balanced - not quite, it appears, as I do have need to quickly attenuate the signal when "she who must be obeyed" enters the room.

 

Just a thought, Would - Using two stepped attenuators in the signal path do the trick

 

They would do it very nicely. Part of the mods I am planning to do to mine and perhaps offer to others is to 'direct inject' as it were, the signal from the DAC chip to a pair of attenuating transformers. i.e. the S&B TX-102's.

For a cheaper option try this Dale Vishay stepped attenuator - http://www.hificollective.co.uk/components/potentiometers.html
Could be done shunt style I'd think.

 

as I said, bidget matters. I never thought that I would shell out a grand for a dac, but I did for the Dax Decade, and have never regretted it. the difference was amazing, it brought the muscians inro my living room in a way I had never imagined. and yes, it has a volume control.

 

I second the DAX Decade. Get the balanced version as it makes quite a difference if your amps are truly balanced. The volume control works well but I prefer a preamp. Give David at Audiosynthesis a call. Sometimes he has second hand DAX Decades at very good prices and condition and he is a nice and honest guy.