I would look for a DAC and use the player as a transport. As you don't need USB input, you could purchase a high quality older DAC for a fraction of the original price.
Need advice! Do I upgrade DAC or buy a new player?
Hello all...I have been heavily back into analog for the past 3 years however I have come to cycle in my audiophilia that I am listening to a lot of CDs again. I have about 300 mostly from '98 and back. Don't get me wrong I am vinyl through and through but there are a lot of CDs I have that are shall we say casual listeners. I have no desire to replace them with there vinyl brethren but I know many are very, very good and well recorded. My dilemma is this I have a fairly decent system and a CD player that I think is "ok" but I want better sound and seeing as there are 10-30k CD players there must be a better option problem is I am not gonna spend that kind of money (even if I could). So the question is do I upgrade my DAC and use my current CD Player or do I just get a "better" player? Oh here are the system dynamics: I use an Audio Research SP20 pre amp mated to a Bryston 14B SST2 speakers are Def Tec 7000sc's I don't think my vinyl preamps matter nor do the tables so I will omit them....
The CD player is an Emotiva ERC-3, I like the player but want a better soundstage a bit deeper and dare I say more analog sounding. I am a huge soundstage freak so if a sacrifice were to be made it would not be there. I am running balanced out of the Emotiva. I don't need SACD but ok if it's there. I don't have a problem with pre-owned I don't need a DAC that downloads FLAC or can be hooked up to any other sources other than the Emotiva being used as a transport. As for budget I would say $1,500 to $2,000 if it makes sense. Any advice would help thanks!
The CD player is an Emotiva ERC-3, I like the player but want a better soundstage a bit deeper and dare I say more analog sounding. I am a huge soundstage freak so if a sacrifice were to be made it would not be there. I am running balanced out of the Emotiva. I don't need SACD but ok if it's there. I don't have a problem with pre-owned I don't need a DAC that downloads FLAC or can be hooked up to any other sources other than the Emotiva being used as a transport. As for budget I would say $1,500 to $2,000 if it makes sense. Any advice would help thanks!