What's More Important: Transport or DACs? (1 Viewer)

[Lin Park]

I am considering getting a fairly decent DAC to use for CD listening. Here is my equipment list:

Panasonic RP-91

Denon DCM-370

Denon AVR-2700 (as pre/pro)

QuickSilver V4 Mono-Block Amps

Vandersteen Model Fives

I've been building this system for quite some time: I started with the speakers and then got the amps. I tried a QuickSilver Line Stage but just couldn't justify the price at the time. So now I am looking at upgrading the signal I feed to the pre/pro.

I go back and forth between the Panny and the DCM - it just depends on what I feel like when I am putting the CD in the player. I am considering getting something like the new Music Fidelity A3 24 DAC (retails for about $1200) and using either the Panny or DCM to do the transporting.

Would I be better off just getting a really good quality CD player (like a Rotel or one of the nice Sony ES units) than getting a dedicated DAC?

Thanx,

Lin

 

[Larry B]

Lin:

While I am a firm believer in the importance of a good transport (in fact, I use a dedicated transport), the DACS are of greater importance. However, it is a mistake to judge the perfomance of a player simply by the brand of DAC it uses, as this says nothing of the all-important DC power, and the way the circuits are isolated. Circuit isolation is the reason many really high-end manufacturers (e.g., Naim, Ayre, Mark Levinson) use external power supplies in their top-of-the-line equipment.

Larry