Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2019 19:40:17 GMT
The first ever DAC I purchased was the Audio Alchemy Digital Decoding Engine V1.0 with the proper power supply not the wall wart which was also included. 1990
I played around with it on different CDP's; Rotel, Marantz, Technics, Yamaha, Nad. All with different results on some there was a noticeable improvement on others it was marginal, but never worse than the built in DAC's. Leading me to believe that the transport and laser did make a difference. About 5 years ago I gave the Wall wart which escaped miss light fingers, to some bloke looking for one; the pins on those things were reversed the negative was the inner one.
It got nicked took the wrong girl home with the inevitable result, the recklessness of youth.
I then replaced it with the QED Digit with the positron power supply, same results as before, was it better who knows, I had nothing to compare it to.
Always liked that DAC kept it and gave it to a friend to use with his Arcam CDP it improved the Arcam. Never could find any major thing wrong with Bit Stream DAC's.
I then bought a Theta Cobalt found the same thing with different transports. Sold the Cobalt when I need some money and was quite happy with the QED for a long while.
I then bought a Jolida JD100 CDP with the stage two mods and this CDP on its own was so good I had no need for a DAC.
A good few years down the line I started playing again, a mint as new Musical Fidelity XDAC V8 boxed with the remote came up at a very decent price 170 quid so I pounced on it. These were $1,500 new.
The valve out put stage and the solid state stage sound almost exactly the same, to nit pick perhaps the valve is a bit more open. I have some NOS 6922's must try one day.
Now to try with different CDP's on the Jolida exactly the same as the Jolida on its own. On the JVC and the Dennon it brings it up to level with the Jolida nothing in it.
I like the Musical Fidelity very non fatiguing and because you can run three CDP's through it, and it has USB, plus it has power outs for anther two Musical Fidelity pieces of kit.
Must measure them and see if it will power the XLPS V3 phono stage then I can sell the Little Pinky one. Nice phono stage very smooth and sweet seems to hold its own with other much more expensive ones I have tried. Better by far than the Cambridge Audio 651P I also have. Perhaps the Little Pinky can be modded to work with the Cambridge. I bloody hate Wall Warts, put a switching power supply near an AM radio and listen to the whine, terrible. Same with those long life florescent bulbs and ofc the tubes.
Long ramble to get to the point that in my opinion the transport plays a large part contrary to popular belief. A universal player sounds average in compassion to a dedicated CDP. Hell even had a Lexecon RT20 here for a bit and all my CDP's creamed it in stereo. Tried the Musical Fidelity with it, it still sounded average.
I do not use file based music for this very reason; I am firmly of the opinion that the transport makes a difference. My Friends Pathos CDP with the Bell Canto DAC 3 sounds better than his file served music through the same DAC, we talking Red Book CD as against high resolution even then I find the difference to be marginal.
Now for a DAC that realy made a difference, the agent kindly lent me a Line Magnetic 502CA for a week end. I wanted to spit, I was pissed, I could not afford it, it took the Jolida to a new level, it cleaned the windows I loved it. Must make a plan "Bugger". On that one the valve output was far more to my liking than the solid state output.
I played around with it on different CDP's; Rotel, Marantz, Technics, Yamaha, Nad. All with different results on some there was a noticeable improvement on others it was marginal, but never worse than the built in DAC's. Leading me to believe that the transport and laser did make a difference. About 5 years ago I gave the Wall wart which escaped miss light fingers, to some bloke looking for one; the pins on those things were reversed the negative was the inner one.
It got nicked took the wrong girl home with the inevitable result, the recklessness of youth.
I then replaced it with the QED Digit with the positron power supply, same results as before, was it better who knows, I had nothing to compare it to.
Always liked that DAC kept it and gave it to a friend to use with his Arcam CDP it improved the Arcam. Never could find any major thing wrong with Bit Stream DAC's.
I then bought a Theta Cobalt found the same thing with different transports. Sold the Cobalt when I need some money and was quite happy with the QED for a long while.
I then bought a Jolida JD100 CDP with the stage two mods and this CDP on its own was so good I had no need for a DAC.
A good few years down the line I started playing again, a mint as new Musical Fidelity XDAC V8 boxed with the remote came up at a very decent price 170 quid so I pounced on it. These were $1,500 new.
The valve out put stage and the solid state stage sound almost exactly the same, to nit pick perhaps the valve is a bit more open. I have some NOS 6922's must try one day.
Now to try with different CDP's on the Jolida exactly the same as the Jolida on its own. On the JVC and the Dennon it brings it up to level with the Jolida nothing in it.
I like the Musical Fidelity very non fatiguing and because you can run three CDP's through it, and it has USB, plus it has power outs for anther two Musical Fidelity pieces of kit.
Must measure them and see if it will power the XLPS V3 phono stage then I can sell the Little Pinky one. Nice phono stage very smooth and sweet seems to hold its own with other much more expensive ones I have tried. Better by far than the Cambridge Audio 651P I also have. Perhaps the Little Pinky can be modded to work with the Cambridge. I bloody hate Wall Warts, put a switching power supply near an AM radio and listen to the whine, terrible. Same with those long life florescent bulbs and ofc the tubes.
Long ramble to get to the point that in my opinion the transport plays a large part contrary to popular belief. A universal player sounds average in compassion to a dedicated CDP. Hell even had a Lexecon RT20 here for a bit and all my CDP's creamed it in stereo. Tried the Musical Fidelity with it, it still sounded average.
I do not use file based music for this very reason; I am firmly of the opinion that the transport makes a difference. My Friends Pathos CDP with the Bell Canto DAC 3 sounds better than his file served music through the same DAC, we talking Red Book CD as against high resolution even then I find the difference to be marginal.
Now for a DAC that realy made a difference, the agent kindly lent me a Line Magnetic 502CA for a week end. I wanted to spit, I was pissed, I could not afford it, it took the Jolida to a new level, it cleaned the windows I loved it. Must make a plan "Bugger". On that one the valve output was far more to my liking than the solid state output.
