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new digital source

I just recently purchased my good 2-channel setup and now I'll need to pick up a digital source to go with. My current setup is a VTL 5.5 pre, VTL 450 monoblocks and Dynaudio C1 speakers. I want a digital source (it can be either CD player or DAC) that I'll use mostly for rock/metal (any other genres will be listened to on my turntable).

What I'm looking for is a big, deep soundstage and the instruments to be very clearly separated. I want to make sure that the double bass drum sits at the back, all the cymbals are clearly heard in the right spot, and the guitar(s) are clearly audible. I find that in the lower-end sources everything becomes a mess with fast songs, like most metal, and all instruments are hard to distinguish.
jibbonacci

Showing 2 responses by jibbonacci

jibbonacci OP
31 posts
 
I know what you mean Tpreaves, and I can't say I disagree with you because I just got my system and just starting to break the speakers in. I'm still waiting for my cables to arrive and I don't even have a decent source (just testing it out with a sony dvd player, but I'm waiting for the Sony CE595 to arrive since it was cheap and want to see what difference SACD makes). However I played the Slayer Reign in Blood album, recorded in the 80s so I doubt it would be qualified as "high quality". I was just amazed at the clarity of the drums and guitars. There's parts of songs where only the drums or only the guitar are playing, and those parts are great. However, when they all start playing it gets messy. I was hoping that a quality CD player or DAC would help to bring more air between the instruments to get more separation and depth.

I consider the recordings of the band Tool to be of really good quality (especially the last 2 albums), and I notice the same issues with those albums.
jibbonacci OP
31 posts
 
I've already invested quite a bit in the amps and speakers so it wouldn't make sense not to make the most of it by getting a good source as well. I'd like to stay in the $5000 area or so.

I don't think I'd mind if I got a CD player. I'm used to switching sides on vinyl so switching CD's isn't a big deal. Of course if a DAC can offer the same sound quality that would probably be more convenient, but convenience is not a priority. If I were to go with a DAC I'd probably use it with a Squeezebox at first (streaming either wav or flac files), the Sony 595 as a transport, and in the future I could add a PC in which case I'd probably use a Lynx sound card and use the AES output.
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