grundigger
Well-Known Member
I bought an NAD C 546BEE a few days ago from one of our local brick and mortar audio salons. I briefly considered getting a Line Magnetic 515CD player, but I prefer to spend money on DAC upgrades (hopefully not too frequently). I have a fairly revealing preamp, LTA MZ2 (f'in great!), and amp, First Watt F6, going into a pair of Sonus faber monitors. The Sonus fabers will soon be set aside for a pair of Omega super alnicos that are being built for me right now.
For the life of me, I can't definitively hear a difference, let alone an improvement, when listening to the outboard NAD D 1050 DAC versus the CD player. I usually listen to classical, with jazz and rock making up the other 25% or so of my listening. I even got my wife involved as I switched between CD and DAC (volume was essentially matched, no more sophisticated technology or science was involved in the evaluation, though). I anticipate people saying that it shouldn't be surprising I don't hear a difference, but I would have thought a $500 DAC would improve the sound of a $500 CD player. Guess not.
I bought the CD player to use as a transport, mostly. Okay, what's the next step? Schiit Yggrasil? PS Audio DirectStream Junior? Holo Audio Spring DAC? Or?
For the life of me, I can't definitively hear a difference, let alone an improvement, when listening to the outboard NAD D 1050 DAC versus the CD player. I usually listen to classical, with jazz and rock making up the other 25% or so of my listening. I even got my wife involved as I switched between CD and DAC (volume was essentially matched, no more sophisticated technology or science was involved in the evaluation, though). I anticipate people saying that it shouldn't be surprising I don't hear a difference, but I would have thought a $500 DAC would improve the sound of a $500 CD player. Guess not.
I bought the CD player to use as a transport, mostly. Okay, what's the next step? Schiit Yggrasil? PS Audio DirectStream Junior? Holo Audio Spring DAC? Or?