[ArmAndHammer]

I am in the process of upgrading my current setup that you can see in my sig. I have been pretty happy with it for the last 2 years but now I am seeing some short comings. First thing I have done was upgraded the cans to the SR325i. I think next on my list is either the DAC or the player. When I demoed the Grados last week, the place I went to allowed, actually asked that I bring my own gear so that I could get the best idea how the headphones would sound in real life once I got them home. So I took my amp and DAC and we tried to hook them up to the owner's laptop but for some reason the laptop would not recognize the DAC. So we were unable to use a computer or my DAC since it is USB only and he did not have anything else to use. So we ended up using his Oppo CD player and Citypulse 2.0e II DAC. We were still able to use my Little Dot 1+ though. 
 
I guess my point is, the music sounded quite a bit better at his place than it does mine. I am wondering...if I were to try to mimic his system as we had it hooked up the day of the demo...would it matter which I upgraded first? The CD player or the DAC? It would be quite some time between new components so I want to try to upgrade the piece that will make the most impact first. I am not sure which Oppo he was using...I will try to find out...but I remember it was not one with BluRay and he said it was around $200 to buy. I appreciate any thoughts. Also...my ears are open for suggestions of equipment that might be better than what I tried at his place.
 
 
 
 

 

[ProtegeManiac]

The DAC would matter more. You're only using the CDP as a transport, and unless you're using a reeeaally bad transport and pathetic dampening for the chassis design, I doubt if there will be an audible difference between transports.
 
Unless, of course, the problem is that your computer has a lot of jitter thru USB and your DAC doesn't have the sort of receiver chip that can sort that out. Personally, the problem going with a dedicated CDP vs the computer is that you might end up feeling how inconvenient it is to swap discs as opposed to just minimizing whatever other window was open and just clicking on something else.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Right...not sure what jitter is...I'll look it up and see if I am getting any. I don't know that I am having any problems per se, just not the same quality of sound I got when I was demoing. I do really like the idea of not having to change out discs since I usually don't listen to whole albums at once but rather mix it up. I do rip my discs to FLAC so I know it's not really the quality of the music.

 

[computerparts]

I tried the computer thing a while back and I found that for me, disc spinner transports always sounded better. However, to some people, the convenience in clicking files outweighs any losses in sound quality.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

I find the convenience nice but if the sound quality will increase by going to a dedicated player...I am all for it. I am going to try and demo the equipment from my demo last week but try to pinpoint which component makes the best, if any increase in sound quality. I need to get a hold of a laptop though in case his computer still won't work with my DAC.

 

[Vandal]

Either way, (computer/CDP) a DAC will make more of a difference. Much more. Upgrade this first, then look at your transport...

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Thanks...I'll start researching DACs to use with my Grados. I do know that the Citypulse setup I demoed with was really nice so perhaps I won't have to do much searching. I would like to see if there is anything else though that is as good or better for the price point or less. I think I can get the Citypulse for $550ish.

 

[vert]

You can use your computer as a transport. I don't know if you have a Mac or PC, but with a Mac, you can just get Ayrewave (it's in beta and free) and have it load songs into memory. This is a big jump from iTunes. You can then get a USB DAC.
 
If you have the right computer setup, you won't be giving up anything to the transport you mentioned. In fact, it might sound better than the transport.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

PC with FLAC files ripped using EAC played with Winamp.

 

[vert]

I don't know much about PCs and the xxhighend software player. If you can get whatever program that loads your music files into memory for playback, or get an SSD drive, there's a difference in sound quality.
 
On the Mac side, there's no comparison between iTunes and Ayrewave for SQ. Several Stereophile reviewers have claimed that a state of the art CD transport cannot compete with a properly setup computer transport. This is because of the way the computer reads the disc and the lack of moving parts for playback when using SSD. So don't automatically assume a CD transport is going to be better!

 

[computerparts]

Don't believe everything in Stereophile. They will also have you believing you have to spend thousands of dollars in order to get reference level sound quality. SSD or not, IMO computers will be inferior as long as they have noisy power supplies.

 

[bacardi]

why not buy a good CD player that has a good DAC already inside? If you mainly used CDs then i would go for that

 

[ArmAndHammer]

I think I would rather have the adjustability of separate components rather than being tied down to a combo unit. Plus if it ends up being that my computer is perfectly suitable to play my music from and it's just the DAC I need to replace...I figure I would be able to get more DAC for the money than if I had to split the money between a DAC/CD combo. I may be wrong in this thinking but that is where I am at now.
 
Quote:

why not buy a good CD player that has a good DAC already inside? If you mainly used CDs then i would go for that

 
All my music is stored on a [size=1em]Western Digital My Book Essential so I am not sure if that is what you mean. I am not the most computer savvy person out there for sure. I am assuming you mean though that the player has the ability to pull the music files to a temporary location so that it can be accessed easier/quicker? I am not sure if Winamp can do that if that's what you mean...I'll have to see unless someone knows.[/size]

 
Quote:

If you can get whatever program that loads your music files into memory for playback, or get an SSD drive, there's a difference in sound quality.
 
 

 

[wilyodysseus]

Quote:

If you can get whatever program that loads your music files into memory for playback, or get an SSD drive, there's a difference in sound quality.

 
I can't imagine how there could be any difference in audio quality, unless your system is severely starved for resources (i.e.--you're exceeding physical RAM most of the time, you have almost no hard drive free space, or some process is pegging your CPU's). Whether SSD or spinning platter, a hard drive will have much higher throughput than a CD reader, certainly enough for music playback.
 
Quote:

PC with FLAC files ripped using EAC played with Winamp.

 
Depending on which version of Windows you're using, it might be worth investigating ASIO or WASAPI and perhaps Foobar2000.
 
As to your original question: DAC first.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

I am using W7 64 bit. I am sure my system is not power starved. I have a 3.2GHz quadcore with 4g of RAM and plenty of HD space. 
 
I will look into all the suggestions though and I will be talking to "my audio guy" about some DAC options and setting up an appointment to go demo some different setups. Thanks everyone for the help.