[regal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeoVibe I'll be buying a DAC soon (DAC-1, X-DAC, Stello DA100 or DA10). I've been following this discussion because I'll probably be using a PC as a digital source... So I guess the quality of the optical out is going to matter. Should I invest in a quality optical out? (I'll use just for that) or just use a regular one? (like an M-Audio transit USB) How much for something considered to be a good optical out? I've searched the 'computer based' forum but I haven't come to a conclusion... my other transport will be a 450$ Sony CDP (picture here) which I have no idea how good it is as a transport...

Digital out both optical and coaxil is reported as having more jitter than a modest CDP. That said there have been reports of lower jitter with better soundcards. The RME Pad card is supposed to be good. When I upgraded from a AV-710 (bottom of the barrel) to an EMU 0404 I noticed a huge improvement using the optical out to my DAC. My DAC has no reclocking so is very sensitive to incoming jitter.

 

[hciman77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by regal Digital out both optical and coaxil is reported as having more jitter than a modest CDP. That said there have been reports of lower jitter with better soundcards. The RME Pad card is supposed to be good. When I upgraded from a AV-710 (bottom of the barrel) to an EMU 0404 I noticed a huge improvement using the optical out to my DAC. My DAC has no reclocking so is very sensitive to incoming jitter.

I really would not get too hung up on jitter. Some very fine sounding CD players have had jitter reported in the 600ps range. My own experience is that a cheap DVD player adds no more audible evidence of jitter when connected to a non jitter-proof DAC than a decent dedicated CD player, ymmv of course.

 

[neilvg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yikes I use to have the opinion that the DAC accounted for roughly 90-95% of the sound quality of a DAC/Transport combination. Then I did a comparison between the $2500 Arcam CD player as a transport (RCA SPDIF) and the $4300 Meridian DVD player as a transport. The difference was not subtle. With the same DAC the Meridian DVD player (As a transport) was much better. The customer was a non-audiophile tightwad. Upon hearing the difference he immediately decided to buy the Meridian player. I was shocked at how significant the difference was. By audiophile standards the difference was extreme. By non-audiophile standards the difference was absolutely noticeable, and in the case of this customer worth the extra money. FYI - The meridian player used a buffer and reclocked the output to reduce jitter. The Arcam did not use a buffer. The Arcam garnered great accolades in the audio press, while I can’t remember ever reading a review of the Meridian.

With regards to the FYI portion - to me, the biggest improvments are noticed when a player is sync'd up to the clock of the DAC. Generally speaking, the DAC will be slaved as I understand to the external clock of the player with standard digital connections. This is true of my Esoteric and EMM Gear. However, with proprietary connections, it is able to upsample and also make use of the clock in the DAC itself, which provides far more accurate sync'ing and according to EMM, phase matching.

The EMM gear uses proprietary fiber optic cables to do this, and I notice the biggest improvements in this mode. Even with the fiber optic cables, if I switch to External Clock (meaning using the EMM Transport), I notice a 'decrease' in overal sonic finesse. Although the difference is hard to qualify.

Other CD Players do not perform as well out of that dac.

Neil

 

[regal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by neilvg With regards to the FYI portion - to me, the biggest improvments are noticed when a player is sync'd up to the clock of the DAC. Generally speaking, the DAC will be slaved as I understand to the external clock of the player with standard digital connections. This is true of my Esoteric and EMM Gear. However, with proprietary connections, it is able to upsample and also make use of the clock in the DAC itself, which provides far more accurate sync'ing and according to EMM, phase matching. The EMM gear uses proprietary fiber optic cables to do this, and I notice the biggest improvements in this mode. Even with the fiber optic cables, if I switch to External Clock (meaning using the EMM Transport), I notice a 'decrease' in overal sonic finesse. Although the difference is hard to qualify. Other CD Players do not perform as well out of that dac. Neil

Slaving the CDP with the DAC as master is the ultimate way to reduce jitter. Problem is the least expensive DAC that can do this is $2000. One day the Chinese will come out with a $500 version