I have the same CD player as you and over the summer bought a gently used PS Audio PerfectWave DAC for about a couple of hundred dollars more from your price range. The synergy sounds great to my ears.
Will A new DAC improve the sound of my Cary 306/200 CD Player
I have a Cary 306/200 CD Player which I purchased in 2003 for about $5000.00.
I am happy with said player, but would it make sense, since DACS have vastly improved over the past few years to
bypass the current DAC and purchase a DAC, in the $1000.00 range, such as the Mytec Liberty Dac to improve the sound. I am happy with the transport and my rationale is that for $1000.00 or so, I can essentially greatly improve my sound for a modest investment. Appreciate any recommendations, as well as any thoughts regarding my reasoning. The
question is would bypassing the old DAC with something up to date, make a big difference therefore justifying the
expense?
I am happy with said player, but would it make sense, since DACS have vastly improved over the past few years to
bypass the current DAC and purchase a DAC, in the $1000.00 range, such as the Mytec Liberty Dac to improve the sound. I am happy with the transport and my rationale is that for $1000.00 or so, I can essentially greatly improve my sound for a modest investment. Appreciate any recommendations, as well as any thoughts regarding my reasoning. The
question is would bypassing the old DAC with something up to date, make a big difference therefore justifying the
expense?
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- 6 posts total
I'd recommend trying an Audio Alchemy DDP-1 with the PS5 power supply.
I've been running this combination for about a year & it is remarkable for the money. I placed a link below in case you're interested. https://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=1ALDDP1P5 |
kjl1065 No, not for PCM Redbook, unless you spend quite a bit on the newer discrete R2R dacs, like a Holo Spring, or Denafrips Terminator, TotalDac ect ect. Your Cary has 8 x PCM1704 d/a converters (best there was) and a PMD200 hdcd filter chip (aslo best there was), this is about as good as you can get for R2R Multibit PCM replay. I had the similar 303/200, about the only thing you can do is get some one who’s good, to improve the I/V stage and output buffer, this will really make it sing. I did a whole thread on this at diyAudio using zero feedback stacked AD844 transconductance chips for I/V duties and OPA627 output buffer, it was very good in the end. https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/227677-using-ad844.html And go direct to poweramp and use the volume control it’s got. PS get a new spare laser/mech for it before they’re obsolete. Philips VAM1202 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2053587.m570.l1313.TR3.TRC2.A0.H0.TRS0&_n... Also, do not sell this machine, I had to get a $20k LINN CD12 before I could better my mod'ed 303/200 and no dac that plays DSD (Delta Sigma based) can touch it for PCM REDBOOK replay Cheers George |
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