Separate DAC

[Crusoe]

Just as a note to the hi-fi buffs, I’ve had a nice secondhand Arcam alpha 10 setup for a few years now (CD, Amp, Power Amp speakers, some kevlar coned B&W floor standers and the usual ixos interconnects etc.) and I’ve been more than happy with the sound. It seemed a bit of a shame to hook my tv output into my amp as a source to connect the xbox360 so I thought I’d treat myself to a separate Arcam DAC. I picked up a second hand Arcam DAC with a couple of inputs one from my Cd player and an optical feed I’ve now hooked up to the xbox306. It makes the xbox sound acceptable when playing mp3s and dvds but the change in detail and punch from the CD is fantastic. I’d highly recommend it, going through my CD collection listening to them all again it’s that big a difference.

[MOSE]

DACs make an amazing difference to the sound of a CD and really tease out some serious detail that isnt picked up by the dacs on most players.

I once had an old ROTEL cd player that gave phenominal performance for a player of its time. Around 1989....IIRC, then a local Welsh company (DPA - Deltec Precision Audio) started to market a stand alone DAC and it recieved rave reviews. So working in the industry I just had to audition it and parted with my £2k. Oh and another £600 on a DPA Black Slinky INterconnect cable that was thicker than most people's drainpipes.

The detail from my ROTEL player was astounding and I was hearing stuff on CDs I had not even ever heard on the original Vinyl. The depth & imagery of sound was astonishing. I kept that piece of kit for about 4 years and eventually got hold of a Wadia Transport, and the whole sound stage changed again. Phenominal stuff.

[Crusoe]

yeah, this isn't quite as exotic but would have been £600+ new but e-bay is great for some of these things second hand, change out of £150 and best upgrade i've done

[peterb]

[ QUOTE ]

I’d highly recommend it, going through my CD collection listening to them all again it’s that big a difference.

[/ QUOTE ]

So which Alpha CD player do you have? The top model, the Alpha 9, has a fairly decent DAC in it already.

I have Alpha 10 integrated amp, plus Alpha 10P, Alpha 10 DAB, Alpha 9 CD, Alpha 8 FM tuner.

[gizze]

I have been using a Mark Levinson 360s for a while with a Meridian 500MKIII transport, it was nothing short of breathtaking, giving it back almost made me cry!!

We demoed it against a very top end turtable, don't ask me what all the bits were as I am not a vinyl man, but I know it was serious money and regarded as one of the best combos there is, and we all prefered the dac, in fact the guy with the turntable has just picked one of these dacs up for himself he was that impressed, he has made to move to CD at last!!

[Crusoe]

Same amp and power amp setup as yourself but I've only got the Alpha 7se CD player which was good at the time but probably the weakest link in my system but the Arcam DAC seems to have solved that.

[peterb]

[ QUOTE ]

Same amp and power amp setup as yourself but I've only got the Alpha 7se CD player which was good at the time but probably the weakest link in my system but the Arcam DAC seems to have solved that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm, I am a little surprised at that, given the relative ages of the Delta Black Box DAC and the 7se, but I do know that the Delta DAC was very good in its day. Are you aware that the 7se was factory-upgradeable to full Alpha 9 specification.

I have to believe that the Ring DAC in the 9 is more than a match for the Delta.

[Crusoe]

yeah i was surprised how much of an improvement it was, especially as i had really only bought it as a optical source for the xbox feed. I'm sure the Alpha 9 upgrade would be a match for it but probably a much costlier option. See how long CD lasts before blueray or HD dvd disks take over, might be some nice high end CD players going cheap