michaelab
desafinado
I fear I may be boring you guys with my digital source upgrade decisions (or more likely, indecisions 
) for a little while. This could turn out to be worthy of Nuno :nuno: (see Naim forum for explanation).
OK, currently with 13yr old Marantz CD50SE as transport, modded (by me) to have the Trichord digital output board, with an AES/EBU balanced digital out, running into Tag McLaren DAC20 via a LAT DI-20MkII balanced digital cable.
It's fair to say that the DAC20 was the single biggest improvement I've ever noticed in my system - yes, even bigger than when I upgraded my £150 Tannoy mx2 speakers to £1200 Dynaudio Contour 1.3MkIIs
It basically transformed my system from mid-fi OKness that I tolerated for a long time to something I really enjoyed listening to. Even my wife was like: "I don't know what it does, but ever since you got that black box with the blue LED on it, this hifi sounds amazing!" :MILD:
So, I'm reasonably happy but know I can do better. I recently heard a Chord DAC64 in my system and it blew me away. I absolutely loved it. So musical and alive, it just put me right there with the band/orchestra - one of the best sounds I've ever heard in any system
So, DAC64 is top of the shortlist right now (and the only option I've actually listened to). However, I think that my transport could do with an upgrade. With the Trichord DOB in place it does a pretty good job but I feel that after 13yrs the laser may be on its way out and it's starting to skip more often. Not annoyingly often yet, but I think it's a downhill spiral. OTOH, I'd be reluctant to spend £500-1000 on a decent transport if it's not going to make a huge sonic improvement over my existing one (with the DAC64) - which I personally don't believe it will. Sure, transports sound different but not that different.
Transport options I'm currently thinking about are:
- s/h Teac VRDS CDP or transport - reasonably cheap but possibly running into longevity issues with some of the older ones. Would need clock upgrade or possibly Trichord DOB again to get the best from it.
- Tag CDT20R transport. One of the few relatively recent transports that's available in reasonably large numbers, but quite pricey (c.£900).
- AudioNote CDTZero transport. Nice small box, probably as good as any other, reasonably priced, can be clocked/DOB'd to great effect (apparently).
So, if we're talking s/h DAC64 at, say, £1400 + a transport for, say, £900 (including mods) then that's £2300. Maybe I'd be better off with an integrated player at around the £2K mark or slightly over?
Any suggestions you guys have of integrated CDPs that come close to the amazing "alive" sound of the DAC64 at around the £2K level (s/h an option, provided relatively easy to find in Europe)? OTOH any other transport + DAC combos that you think are worth a listen?
Only integrated currently on my list, as a recommendation from titian is the Metronome Technologie CD2V Tube CDP or possibly (it's somewhat over my budget) their T1-i Sig. player. There's a shop in Lisbon that stocks them so it would be easy for me to dem. WM has had a few suggestions in the past but most of them (eg Advantage S1) are as rare as hens teeth and I'm unlikely to be able to dem them, especially not at home (in Portugal) which makes them something of a non-starter. Would have to be something that's reasonably easy to find and dem in the UK or Portugal, preferrably against the DAC64.
Cheers,
Michael.
) for a little while. This could turn out to be worthy of Nuno :nuno: (see Naim forum for explanation).OK, currently with 13yr old Marantz CD50SE as transport, modded (by me) to have the Trichord digital output board, with an AES/EBU balanced digital out, running into Tag McLaren DAC20 via a LAT DI-20MkII balanced digital cable.
It's fair to say that the DAC20 was the single biggest improvement I've ever noticed in my system - yes, even bigger than when I upgraded my £150 Tannoy mx2 speakers to £1200 Dynaudio Contour 1.3MkIIs
It basically transformed my system from mid-fi OKness that I tolerated for a long time to something I really enjoyed listening to. Even my wife was like: "I don't know what it does, but ever since you got that black box with the blue LED on it, this hifi sounds amazing!" :MILD:So, I'm reasonably happy but know I can do better. I recently heard a Chord DAC64 in my system and it blew me away. I absolutely loved it. So musical and alive, it just put me right there with the band/orchestra - one of the best sounds I've ever heard in any system
So, DAC64 is top of the shortlist right now (and the only option I've actually listened to). However, I think that my transport could do with an upgrade. With the Trichord DOB in place it does a pretty good job but I feel that after 13yrs the laser may be on its way out and it's starting to skip more often. Not annoyingly often yet, but I think it's a downhill spiral. OTOH, I'd be reluctant to spend £500-1000 on a decent transport if it's not going to make a huge sonic improvement over my existing one (with the DAC64) - which I personally don't believe it will. Sure, transports sound different but not that different.
Transport options I'm currently thinking about are:
- s/h Teac VRDS CDP or transport - reasonably cheap but possibly running into longevity issues with some of the older ones. Would need clock upgrade or possibly Trichord DOB again to get the best from it.
- Tag CDT20R transport. One of the few relatively recent transports that's available in reasonably large numbers, but quite pricey (c.£900).
- AudioNote CDTZero transport. Nice small box, probably as good as any other, reasonably priced, can be clocked/DOB'd to great effect (apparently).
So, if we're talking s/h DAC64 at, say, £1400 + a transport for, say, £900 (including mods) then that's £2300
. Maybe I'd be better off with an integrated player at around the £2K mark or slightly over?Any suggestions you guys have of integrated CDPs that come close to the amazing "alive" sound of the DAC64 at around the £2K level (s/h an option, provided relatively easy to find in Europe)? OTOH any other transport + DAC combos that you think are worth a listen?
Only integrated currently on my list, as a recommendation from titian is the Metronome Technologie CD2V Tube CDP or possibly (it's somewhat over my budget) their T1-i Sig. player. There's a shop in Lisbon that stocks them so it would be easy for me to dem. WM has had a few suggestions in the past but most of them (eg Advantage S1) are as rare as hens teeth and I'm unlikely to be able to dem them, especially not at home (in Portugal) which makes them something of a non-starter. Would have to be something that's reasonably easy to find and dem in the UK or Portugal, preferrably against the DAC64.
Cheers,
Michael.
I think Mike already has with the tosh 
Will let you know though if/when the DAC20 comes up for sale...