I upgraded CD players within the NAD line, from an old CD314 (I think) to a C345BEE, and the improvement was substantial. This was, obviously, upgrading the DAC.
The reason to upgrade an external DAC instead of the cd player that I can think of would be:
- it's actually cheaper without a transport. That is, you get a better DAC without a better CD player at the same price, and this particular set-up won't introduce any clock/jitter issues
- you plan on feeding other sources through the DAC.
I think the first of those may be questionable, though I haven't used the V-DAC in particular and think it's worth looking into options. I would look into improving the source in the most simple way I could, though, if I were looking to improve the source. Personally I did get an external DAC, and at much greater expense it was an improvement over the cd player I had. But I'd have gotten another CD player if I didn't have the need to play other sources (computer, mostly) through the DAC.
Edited by Choronzon - 7/5/10 at 5:19pm
