[azneinstein]

Hi guys, I'm still really new to this, and I keep hearing about it. I know what it is- Digital-analog converter... but what exactly does it do? Soupy (sorry for using your name) was selling a NEC cd-transport with a link where someone connected it to a DAC- and apparently it sounded really good. I was thinking about it, but I have no clue what DAC actually does. What's the difference in using a DAC with a CD player and not using one. Thanks guys.

 

[Jeff Guidry]

All CD players have a DAC. The DAC takes the digital information on the CD and converts it to an analog signal that an amp boosts in power to power your headphones. A stand-alone transport has no internal DAC, and must use an external one to transfer to a useable analog signal.

 

[lan]

The NEC that you hear about is a CDROM not really just a transport. It does have an internal DAC but it is bad. Soupy is using it as a transport which means a device sending the digital info out. All CD players have DACs but you could use them just as a "transport" if you only the digital out. There are real transports with no DACs but they aren't very many.

 

[strohmie]

When it specifically comes to the NEC CD-ROM - the NEC has an excellent transport with its caddy system and is relatively inexpensive. It does come with a built in DAC and also a headphone output, but the DAC is relatively low quality and so is the headphone out. The transport plus an external DAC is much superior.

edit: heh, Ian beat me to the punch. ^_^

 

[azneinstein]

Alrite, I'm starting to get this. When I did a search, I also read where somebody wanted to connect a DAC to their powerbook? Whats the of that?

edit: Also, what do the bits stand for? I see CD-players with a "24-bit sampling" and some with 10 bit? is the more bit the better?

 

[davidmiya]

Quote:

Alrite, I'm starting to get this. When I did a search, I also read where somebody wanted to connect a DAC to their powerbook? Whats the of that?

I'm guessing that they must have a digital output on their powerbook. By connecting a DAC, they bypass the crappy DAC in the powerbook. Additionally, some of the noise might be eliminated as well since computers add quite a bit of interference.

Quote:

edit: Also, what do the bits stand for? I see CD-players with a "24-bit sampling" and some with 10 bit? is the more bit the better?

It's hard to say really. Every player sounds different. So, you can't really rely on bit ratings to give an accurate measurement of quality. Though, in the case of Meridian, the bit ratings really do make a difference.