TO DAC OR NOT TO DAC?

My understanding of this is admittedly limited, but as I understand it, the problem with separates is that a DAC has to reclock the signal, and not all of them do that well. The result is jitter (which is a mistiming, akin to analog flutter, although I imagine it sounds very different). If that's the case, one might ask how any box between transport and DAC can solve the problem. Seems fewer boxes is the better way to go.

People familiar with their technical aspects have told me that Rotel and Arcam make very good CDPs in this regard, adn they're probably well within Whirshfield's means.

Sam wrote a glowing review of the new MF upsampling DAC, which got me wondering, too, despite my wariness of reviews in consumer magazines. The real question in my mind: is upsampling truly the trump card? I've read in a number of places that it is. I've been considering upgrading from an Arcam cd72 to the FMJ23 and now wonder if the MF would be a better choice for about half the money? An a-b comparison, practically speaking, is impossible to arrange. I have an older MF preamp that I really like. Anybody who has done a-b's between upsampling dacs and known good non-upsampling CDP's please weigh in. Sam said the MF improved the sound of his Rega Jupiter, and that adding an anti-jitter box helped even further.

A totally irrelevant opinion.. my source is Mac Mini, my speakers either Dynaudio Xeo 20 or Edifier S3000 Pro (both active speakers). I found direct cabling was good, but putting a humble Schiit Modius in the middle made the sound a lot crisper. Trying a more expensive DAC made very little difference. 

Hello to all,

I have a perhaps strange, perhaps normal question.

I have a Marantz SACD-30n CD/SACD player.   I like its sound pretty much, and I like what it does (i.e. receives internet radio, can use the DAC portion for streaming from my iPad).  It’s a nice Swiss army knife of a player. 

But I keep wondering:  would a separate DAC improve things, to help digital to sound more realistic/natural/musical?  (I do tend to prefer my TT analogue set-up.) 

I’ve been looking at various R2R DACs or tube-based DACs. 

I guess the entry-point question is how much would I have to spend to notice much of a difference that is truly better? 
 

 

 

Thanks for any responses. 
 

 

@hoodjem if I understand you correctly, you are asking which is better a CDP or a DAC? That is an interesting question and I do not know.

One salesman asked me "Do you listen to CDs or streaming"? If  you do streaming, then a DAC would make sense. That was a purely functional reason, not considering SQ. Assumption by the salesman was SQ was not affected. Maybe you can get more for you dollar with a DAC since a DAC has less parts.