To DAC or not to DAC ? | Stereophile.com

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Submitted By: Nellomilanese

member

Location: Milan

Joined: Feb 9 2013

Posts:

To DAC or not to DAC ?

Posted: February 9, 2013 - 11:05am

Hi to everyone ! 1st post here but long time reader. I just bought a second home (lucky me I know :-D)so I upped the game a bit with a new setup which i'll describe b4 asking for advice:
- Pioneer PD-10 Sacd/Cd player (connected via analog to receiver)
- Onkyo Tx-sr 608 Receiver/Amp
- Ps3 (connected HDMI to receiver)
-Wharfedale Diamond floorstanders + center and B&W Subwoofer

I listen to music (SACD and CD from the player) for about 60% of the time....rest from the PlayStation3 in the form of HQ wav files (30 to 40 MB/song) converted from FLAC 96/24 or 192/24 downloads.

I'm really diggin this set-up and plan to keep it this way (simple to use/run even for wifey) but I was wondering if buyin' an external DAC (300-400 $ budget) would improve audio specially for the PS3 part.
I know PS3 it's not what you would call an audiophile source for digital files but I try to keep things simple since the PS3 allows me wav audio, Bluray and DVD concerts (great audio on those!), Bluray movies etc.

Also, a 3 to 400$ DAC would allow me to somehow connect both the PS3 and the SACD player and from there feed the receiver?

Submitted By: Demondog

senior member

Location: PacificNorthwest USA

Joined: Feb 22 2009

Posts:

Your question boils down to

Posted: February 9, 2013 - 1:51pm

Can you afford and aquire an external DAC that supplies a higher quality anolog output than the DAC circuits in your SACD player, or reciever? The answer sounds like it is a yes in your case. The size of such an improvement may or may not be very large, but it should be noticeable, depending on how good a DAC you get.

The $300 - $600 range offers several units that could work. Lately I've been recommending the $250 Audioquest Dragonfly DAC to people wanting to get started down this road. But its strength is its USB (its only) input. You'll need a unit with S/PDIF input(s).0

Submitted By: Nellomilanese

member

Location: Milan

Joined: Feb 9 2013

Posts:

Re:

Posted: February 9, 2013 - 6:04pm

Hmmm ok so it seems 400$ would get some improvement.

At this point, i'm wondering what DAC within my budget, would u guyz reccomend that has BOTH analog input and optical?

Submitted By: jackfish

senior member

Location: Western Wisconsin

Joined: Dec 19 2005

Posts:

A DAC has no reason to have an analog input.

Posted: February 9, 2013 - 6:15pm

Do you mean different digital inputs, SPDIF coax, SPDIF toslink, or USB?

Submitted By: Nellomilanese

member

Location: Milan

Joined: Feb 9 2013

Posts:

Re: analog

Posted: February 9, 2013 - 9:01pm

Oooops right what was I thinkin! :O still new to this ball game :-D
Right, so that means i'll have to output the Sacd player via coaxial and Ps3 via toslink.

Submitted By: jackfish

senior member

Location: Western Wisconsin

Joined: Dec 19 2005

Posts:

Schiit Bifrost is very good for the $350 they get for it.

Posted: February 10, 2013 - 5:48pm

http://www.tonepublications.com/review/the-schiit-bifrost-dac/

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/schiit2/1.html