Thank you…. Even if getting out of the topic / questions
Big problem / bottleneck in my chain
Hello everyone,
I don’t know exactly where to post
Seems I have a big problem in my chain, but please let me first list my gears :
CD player Moon 260d used as a transport (but equipped with the Dac) => s/pdif Shunyata Alpha bnc => DAC Chord Hugo TT2 + mscaler => Cardas Golden ref. xlr => Mcintosh c2700 => cardas parsec xlr => Coda 16.0 => Cardas Golden ref. => Magnepan 20.7
While I realized I was not experiencing a difference between mscaler in or out the chain (yes I know some may argue mscaler is bs) , I was not either perceiving a tangible difference between the moon 260d used as a transport or the streamer Aurender N150 (on the same songs indeed).
So I started to suspect a bottleneck in the chain somewhere… as I expected the cd transport with a physical media to perform better than a streamer.
This afternoon, I did some experiments:
- plug the 260d as a cd player straight to the preamp using its internal dac
- plug the 260d as a transport to the TT2 (not using the mscaler) using the shunyata alpha bnc spdif
- plug the 260d as a transport to the internal dac of the mcintosh c2700 using a cheap spdif cable (internal dac is a da2)
i couldn’t hear any difference or nuances between the 3. If there was then I could hardly perceive maybe a little subtile more air using the TT2…but not that obvious.
I have always heard any difference in the past on any of my components (even on cables….) but here I don’t understand what is happening.
could it be the transport is the bottleneck and as such any dac will not make any difference ?
could it be that I should unplug the internal dac inside the 260d as it is influencing the sound as a transport only in some ways ?
I am really disappointed and lost. Should I sell my TT2 , mscaler and plug everything in the da2 of the preamp c2700.
or is it the transport being the weak link and finally whatever dac I am using (200 or 5000$), there is no difference
that really doesn’t make sense.
Any advice / feedback from real experienced, senior specialists ?
- ...
- 17 posts total
I agree with @ghdprentice that it is not necessarily an issue that your CD transport and streamer sound very close to each other, and in fact this could be considered a positive. It is of concern that you cannot hear the difference when other DAC’s are used. Ignoring the CD for a second, can you hear a difference when the Aurender uses the Chord DAC vs the DAC in your preamp? A second test I would run is to connect the Aurender to the two different DAC’s via USB, and compare the sound between the DAC’s and to that of the CD. These tests will not necessarily solve your problem, but will confirm if you can hear a difference between the DAC’s, and if the connection method, and/or clocking, might be a factor. In all cases, I would remove the mscaler to simplify things.
|
@zlone I am focusing on that from now on. Only Aurender. Will report in a few days
As for comments on McIntosh : my c2700 replaced an AR ref3 as it was at least as transparent and providing more depth. It is not voice on the dark side. And for Cardas cables. We are speaking of the high end, they are not dark sounding. |
- 17 posts total