[phheld]

Folks, I'm new to the forum and would love some opinions. I've been into digital music for many years, always with my own CD collection ripped to hard drives to make mixes fro he car, for travel and of course more recently for ipods.

I finally decided over the holidays to bite the bullet and upgrade everything - dedicated music computer, rerip in to Apple lossless, better connection to my good 2-channel rig.

Here is my set up. Dedicated HP slimline computer with digital coax out, to a NAD T743 receiver, to a very nice hybrid tube integrated amp, to my B&W 602 speakers. Good quality cables between all (not crazy). In this config, the NAD is doing the DAC work via coax direct from the PC. It is also acting as a fancy volume control after the computer and before the tube amp. The tube amp is dead simple - manual volume control, no remote. Obviously, with CD track volumes all over the map you need some control and as I understand it, you don't touch the computer's volume levels.

So the question is - does it make sense to invest in a dedicated DAC rather than using the NAD. The NAD is very solid mid-fi piece with good DACs intended for music or home theater, but i've been reading this forum and others to learn about the new USB DAC technologies and options and they sound interesting to say the least. I simply don't know if I'm likely to hear much difference but I wanted to see if I could get any off hand opinions from the experts out there.

Any thoughts on whether or not a dedicated DAC would be worthwhile and suggestions as to what would be much appreciated. I have done background research on the Citypulse, Stereo-link and Benchmark units as a matter of course.

Thanks in advance, Paul

 

[Bazile]

Hi Paul;

Welcome to Head-Fi, and sorry about your wallet. Yes Sir, it's worth it. Lots of folks here suggest source first for headphones. Good advice for speaker systems also. Some might suggest picking speakers/phones first, but the B&W's you mentioned are fine speakers.

I use the Channel Islands Dac shown in my sig. It's more than the citipulse and less than the benchmark. I do think a better Dac is wise regardless of which you end up with. Enjoy the journey.

Bazile

 

[jrosenth]

Even a couple hundred dollars for a used dac will get you a noticeable difference in that set up - could always go with a preamp , even passive, for the volume issue.

 

[Operandi]

NAD make some very nice stuff for the money but given the price and the fact that the DAC is just one function of the unit I wouldn't think it would be too difficult to beat it.

 

[sejarzo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrosenth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Even a couple hundred dollars for a used dac will get you a noticeable difference in that set up - could always go with a preamp , even passive, for the volume issue.

He already has a volume control on the tube amp.......I think he needs a volume control with a remote. There are a few of passives with remotes out there, Creek Audio being the cheapest, but the selection is limited in the lower price realm.

 

[jrosenth]

gotcha. sorry, I'm kind of stupid.

Wild, relatively inexpensive thought: how about feeding a dedicated dac into the denon and using the denon as a preamp?

Actually, now that I think about it I swear I saw a couple of dacs with remote controls, one even in the 200-300 range on ebay, it had a digital display and has even been mentioned here. Shoot, I'll post again if I can think of it.

 

[Operandi]

The Citypulse 7.2 DAC has a pre-amp section in addition to a remote.

 

[brainsalad]

I would definitely go with a Dac/Preamp combo. I have used two of the Citypulses which will give limited preamp functions and you could skip the NAD. I am a big fan of NAD but this way it's one less item in the chain. the Citypulse 2.03 has USB inputs so you go from your PC straight into the DAC. If your computer has SPDIF/Optical you wouldn't need the USB option.

Another thing I would recomend is using FLAC. FLAC is a non lossy format and you don't need to be locked into ITunes. ITunes is like a virus. It keeps wanting to control the multi media world and I prefer to have choices.

 

[phheld]

Thanks for all the input. Brainsalad, the citypulse unit reads as very strong and seems to have support here and elsewhere for quality. Do you think I am going to get a significant benefit in swapping this in (direct to my tube amp, using it's volume control, as you point out) in place of the NAD?

It's a $500 dollar incremental investment. Well worth it if we are talking about a good step up in quality, but the NAD is free, and sticking around anyway due to it's HT duties.

Finally, the HP has a coax out I am using now. Do I get much benefit in going to USB in for the DAC or can I assume these are close to being a wash?

opinions? thanks

 

[brainsalad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phheld /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do I get much benefit in going to USB in for the DAC

The music stream has to be converted to USB and then back to the SPDIF standard. The coax out on the HP is pre USB processing so you are better using the Coax.

IMO, save your money. I've not heard the NAD. I sold NAD when they very first were being imported to the US back in 1978. They stand now for what they did then, bang-for-the-buck. Given that scenario, the DAC expense would only give you a very slight, if noticable at all, difference. Save your money and get some AKG K701's or HD650's. Now your talking frikin huge differences.

Something that DOES make a difference and it's free - Read the ASIO thread http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/as...nation-221237/

Also, what's your source? If you're not listening to non-lossy source, make the switch. These are two huge changes and they won't cost you a penny.

 

[Operandi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phheld /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do you think I am going to get a significant benefit in swapping this in (direct to my tube amp, using it's volume control, as you point out) in place of the NAD?

I would say give it a shot. From a technical perspective it should be a pretty significant upgrade. How apparent it is probably depends on how good those B&W speakers are. Probably good enough but thats only a educated guess from their reputation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brainsalad /img/forum/go_quote.gif The music stream has to be converted to USB and then back to the SPDIF standard. The coax out on the HP is pre USB processing so you are better using the Coax.

It may be being processed more but it's not being altered at all. USB by it's very nature is jitter free so it has a small advantage there in theory.

 

[grawk]

Each part of the chain matters. Instead of upgrading source, amp and speakers/headphones, upgrade just 1 of them as far as you can. 1 big jump is better than 3 small ones.