2. digital
  3. 184330-145382

Digital Dilemma

I purchased an inexpensive Onkyo C-7030 CD Player more as just a transport, but also to use as a benchmark to compare to streaming music on-line. With intentions to get the streamed content to sound as good, if not better, than the CD player could muster.

After sitting my wife down for a listen (she has better ears than me) and playing Tidal, Quboz and then the same tracks on a CD, the CD was the clear winner every time. It also seems the CD playing without using the Gustard R26 DAC didn’t even sound all that much better than when played through the CD Player only, bypassing the R26. That doesn’t say too much for the R26 DAC or alternatively, it says a lot for the DAC in the CD Player!

I am using the R26 as the renderer via a LAN connection that is optically isolated. There are a few filters and adjustments on the DAC, but tweaking those still didn’t get the sound quality up to that of the CD Player.

A lot of you say you have achieved streaming that sounds as good as your analogue systems. What do you think, do I need a betted DAC?

128x128navyachts

Showing 1 response by bpoletti

bpoletti
1,525 posts
 

LOL at all the excuses.  Has anybody actually LISTENED at length to a C-7030 CD player?  It is a true hidden gem.

Bottom line is that the Onkyo C-7030 is a very good transport with an outstanding  built-in DAC.  It will be hard to beat that unit with other digital front-ends even using separate transports and DACs.   To equal the performance of the Onkyo built-in DAC, it's probably necessary to fork out $4K or more.  It's just that good.  And as a transport, the C-7030 does a quite nice job although some might find it a little slow on seek.  

FULL DISCLOSURE:  I have been using a C-7030 for years mostly as a transport.  I get somewhat better results on CD playback using an "Unobtanium Black DAC" that was a custom-built prototype by a now-retired manufacturer.  

More to discover