High End CD players alternatives

what alternatives to High End CD players do you know?

and more important - which of them did you personally hear and compared?

a good friend of mine got 800$ Apogee Minidac instead if his former Wadia 861

i remember in the past there was this cheap DAC on ebay.
and this dutch/german site that sells philips PRO transport based kits...........

 

Doing physical mods to the CDP and using a DAC is as good as most 'high end' CDPs.

With a DAC you can also hook up other digital sources such as DVD player, FreeView/Satellite boxes and PC sound card.

 

Originally Posted by oedipus

I`m waiting for Mr O to name the cdp so I can get one. You`ll be able to sell that DAC then as well.

 

There is certain DAC expert in a forum who keep claiming that you can plug in digital output from any old CDP or DVD player. His argument is that when a CDP or DVD players is used as transport, it doesn't do anything more than read 0s and 1s.

Are DACs transport dependent?

 

bm,
in theory dacs should be transport independant however ime they aren;t. others experiences vary though.
cheers


julian.

 

Its what happens prior to the line level o/p that is important - just because its 0s and 1s doesnt mean that they are all the right 0s and 1s at the right time!

Transports absolutely do make a difference.

 

Are we talking about DVD output into a DAC for stereo, surround sound or doesn't it make a difference?

Pardon my ignorance.

 

how do you mean alternatives, Croc. vinyl? sacd? or simply choices of cd's and is that at £5k?

 

yes, i mean still staying RBCD - looking for digital sound bargains.

 

- use an Apogee MiniDAC ($869 imported) with a 13-year old Krell MD-1 transport (£645 s/h) - best sound i've ever heard from CD - & the Krell transport makes a *huge* difference compared with other modern CDP's used as transports

 

Or you could of course go for a cheap Non-OS DAC like the one I got to replace my DAC64

Michael.

 

Tell you what michael, I'll give you £80 for the DAC64, since you've shown us it can be beaten by a £100 DAC.

 

this looks very interesting.
and tempting too

i have a friend that tryed that Nixon tube DAC and says that it was quite bad.

 

The Scott Nixon "normal" (not tube) DAC is very similar in design to the one I've got allthough I've not heard one myself.

Michael.

 

well, selling of DAC64 is saying it all :MILD: ................

that friend of mine that replaced wadia by apogee is calling me "stupid" because i payed $$$$$ for my new meridian.

too bad i can't try it at home.
if it sounds as good as G-08 i would keep it and getting some $$$$$$$ back by selling the meridian - this brand names stuff and shining equipment doesn't do it for me anymore :SLEEP:

 

There was a very lengthy thread on the subject some time ago - it's probably worth a look if you want a cross-section of opinion.

 

isn't Audio Note's design is very similar?

for 729$ it's not expensive too...........

 

AudioNote DACs are similar in that they don't use oversampling. They used to use (analog) output filters but apparently they ditched those recently. However, they use a different DAC chip (Analog Devices AD1865N instead of Philips TDA1543) and they also have an active (valve) output stage whereas the 47 Labs clones like mine have no output stage, just passive IV conversion.

The AudioNote DACs also ruin the "less is more" concept for me as they are rammed full of just as many components as any other DAC rather than the handful of components in the 47 Labs clones.

Michael.