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In Reply to: HELP!....I OFFER YOU A CHALLANGE AS I'M LOST IN A BINARY WORLD! posted by CRAZYDIAMOND on November 12, 2006 at 15:40:45:
You have to decide if you are going into the SACD route...I would say old reference systems are still hard to beat, and affordable, If money is no issue I would follow reccomendations on Zanden and the like.
I would reccomend get a DAC and a transport since computer audio is coming out and the DAC and analog stage of computer companies is not really trustworthy. Get a CEC TL-1 (TL-1x, TL-2) transport still hard to beat, and very reliable, and probably an Altmann Attraction DAC...That dac plays anything....you could later hook on your computer to the DAC and play your files, If you get a computer based system that beats the CEC, keep it (I havent found one, I quit looking)
Follow Ups:
S,I would reccomend get a DAC and a transport since computer audio is coming out and the DAC and analog stage of computer companies is not really trustworthy.
I totally agree with this statement. Assuming you are talking about onboard audio, this is correct. NO one is saying that buying a dell and hooking it up to a dac or directly to an amp will yeild good sound. But putting in a pro sound card or a high quality USB DAC or a USB/SPDIF convertor like the offramp IS a different story. WHat have you listened to?
HOw were you getting digital out of the PC when you were comparing to the CEC? Were you using ASIO?
I was using a highly modded Squeezebox2, it uses a normal ethernet network connection (wifi and wired) which is bidirectional allowing for all jitter corrections, I guess they are using the bidirectional mode?
Batteries and all it was ages behind the CEC...
I havent heard the Offramp but for the price I was considering a Wavelenght Brick also...then I heard the CEC, I really dont feel like going that route again but if I get a used Offramp I might consider it...there was a big sale on the previous version a couple of months ago but I didnt have my system hooked up at the time...Have you compared the CEC against the offramp I am curious of an opinion other than the manufacturer (which I met and is a really nice person BTW)
S,My transport/ dac days are over. Believe it or not, the Lynx is stellar, is in one box, has 3 pair of balanced outs, can function as a pre amp with one analog and digital in, and the sound quality is in a different league compared to my old trans/dac combo. So no, I haven't heard the CEC...but they are highly praised.
I am not sure that the Squeeze box even modded is the cats meow...although, the transporter looks promising.
Anyhow, the convenience of a pc is really hard to beat, and for the money, the value is way of the charts.
FOr instance, there a poster at the PC audio forum that is using the same sound card I have and the PC as a digital crossover, and he says that the computer/ Lynx combo sounds better than his Marchand xm 44. That is about out the same price for the Lynx Card and the crossover software! YOu would still need a dac, and if you throw in room correction (which is esseentially free with a PC based system)....value is off the chart.
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