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Transports and Dac's mix and match Brands

I have a Questions with regards to transports and Dac's, most manufactures produce both the Transport and Dac, can you mix and match one and enother(brands)i.e Esoteric, EMM labs, Wadia and DSC come to mind, Iam am using a Dodson Audio Dac model Da-217 mk 11d at the moment and I wont a decent transport to use with it, I dont wont to be tied to one brand, as a example I like the Esoteric P05 there new pick up reads well, I not interested in SACD just red book, but can I use it with my Dac or other Dac's, if I decide to change in the future and will it preform as good if it was mated with other manufactures Dac, when you read the reviews or there owner manuals it seems they are designed to pacificaly be sold together, transport and dac, is this the case i.e P05 and D05.
Thanks for the insite or any recomendating on what I should be looking for.
k_rose
7 responses Add your response
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
I mix with no worry. You will find that, for instance, some DACs will sound better when they are in a CD player and you are playing CDs as opposed to feeding it from an external source. The system was built as a Cd player first and alternative inputs as a bit of an afterthought.

However a true DAC that was designed first for external inputs should work quite well.

An example would be that my Audio Aero CD player sounds 'best' with CDs and still sounds really good with external feeds into the DAC...my Anthem D2 sounds equally well with any input.
4est
507 posts
 
DACs should work with any transport by nature. Some have a synergy with the mating transport, but a good DAC will retain its signature regardless of the transport used...
clio09
3,341 posts
 
I've done it both ways. I used the Northstar 192 combo to take advantage of the I2S connection between transport and DAC. However, I've used the Northstar 192 transport with a Monarchy M24 and TRL modified Audio Mirror DAC as well with fine results.

Today I'm using a CEC TL-51X with a Lessloss DAC 2004 MkII. While these are from different manufacturers the DAC has been designed with a clock output for use with this specific transport so that the transport is slaved to the DAC (user option via switch, you can run the DAC slaved to the transport as well). This combo is some of the best digital I have heard.
Post removed 
k_rose OP
32 posts
 
Thanks for the comments,thought that this might be the case.
Thanks
nglazer
841 posts
 
I use a CEC TL-1x with Dodson 218 DAC, and previously used the same transport with the DAC you have. No problem mixing and matching, and the CEC is a honey of a transport.

Neal
k_rose OP
32 posts
 
Neal
Can you tell whats differance between 217 and the 218, I very impressed with the 217 at the moment as I only have it been suppied by a older modelRotel at the moment and a very cheap rca I had down in the back shed, I like CEC as transport but it turned me off when I seen one of the mod companies charging two thousnd dollars to make it better, make you think are they any good to start with.
Thanks Kel
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