CD Player to DAC connection help.

[JesterJon]

Hello,
 
I am trying to build a small office setup.  I was hoping to buy a cd player for pretty cheap and connect it to a dac/amp combo, maybe the O2/ODAC.  My question is, where I to do this, how do I do the cables from the CD player to the ODAC?  I am under the impression it takes USB input.  If the cd player doesn't have a USB output, is there a cable or mechanism to convert one of the available outputs to USB input?
 
Thank you very graciously for your assistance.
 
Hopefully this post makes sense.  I am pretty new to all this

 

[NA Blur]

First let me say you may be better off using a portable device like an iPod touch and placing low compression files on it.  I find that the output from the iPod is quite music especially when amped well.  It would certainly be more versatile and you can always place 256kbps files on it so the compression is not a big issue.
 
What total cost are you looking at?
 
You can always use the CD/DVD player that is installed in the computer you use, if you have one of course, and run it through an amp to get the sound quality you want.  This saves on the cost of a CD player.  The key here is going to use a decent DAC to extract the Digital signal from the PC a cleanly as possible.  I have had good luck with my Total Bithead which is a nice low cost option.  Of course you may want to go with a Micro Amp and Micro DAC stack seen here:
 
http://www.headphone.com/packages/headroom-micro-amp--micro-dac-package.php
 
Of course this runs $680 currently, but will be quite musical.  It is a USB DAC and has some other digital connections for you.
 
I find for the office the simpler and smaller footprint the better.  With a CD player you are going to have to constantly change the CD which can be annoying.  Why not instead use an MP3 player which can hold 4000 + songs on it?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hello,
 
I am trying to build a small office setup.  I was hoping to buy a cd player for pretty cheap and connect it to a dac/amp combo, maybe the O2/ODAC.  My question is, where I to do this, how do I do the cables from the CD player to the ODAC?  I am under the impression it takes USB input.  If the cd player doesn't have a USB output, is there a cable or mechanism to convert one of the available outputs to USB input?
 
Thank you very graciously for your assistance.
 
Hopefully this post makes sense.  I am pretty new to all this

 
There is no way to connect the ODAC to a CDPlayer - it's a USB DAC designed for people who listen using their computers/laptops as source. Converting the SPDIF from a CDP/DVDP to USB would, personally, be counter productivegiven that supposedly SPDIF is a better transfer protocol than USB, although I think there are some devices that can do such a process. No guarantees if it comes out the other end as a digital audio stream or a data stream for saving them on a computer though. Personally, just use your computer with the ODAC. If the office won't allow you to do that and you don't want a personal laptop running all day, I'd say get a Sansa Fuze, LOD cable and a large capacity SD cards. Rip all your CDs into a computer in lossless format, then save them on the Fuze and on the SD Cards. Shouldn't cost more than the ODAC. If it's an office set-up though you might want to just get an iPod Classic and hook that up to the

 

[JesterJon]

Hello,
 
Sorry for the delayed reply!  Thank you for your inputs.
 
At my work, I am not allowed to use the computers to play personal CDs, nor am I allowed to have my own laptop.  Luckily, electronics are allowed, such as the mp3 players.  I think that may be a good option, and save the higher-end and more imposing stuff for home.
 
If I used an iPod classic or a Sansa Fuze with some SD cards, what amp might you suggest to go with it?  How is the DAC on those mp3 players?
 
I have all of my music in FLAC (I have a lot of CDs).  If I did the iPod, I would have to convert to ALAC?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

iPod Classic and Fuze DAC are good enough for an office set-up; I doubt you'd be listening critically enough while working. You can just hook it up straight to the O2. However between taht and the Fuze, I've still not gotten the hang of updating (removing then adding other files) the contents using iTunes vs drag and drop in Windows, so in that regard I'd get the Fuze, on top of having a FLAC library already. BTW the line-out dock cable isn't interchangeable, I think the L and R signals are reversed, so you have to get a a Fuze-specific LOD cable.