Have your say & ask the experts!

Denon as transport - a month on. DAC dominates?

5 replies [Last post]
Charlie Jefferson
Charlie Jefferson's picture
Offline
Joined: 2 Sep 2007
Posts: 1413

So I've enjoyed having my Denon UD player for a month now (and have sold my long serving Arcam 92 CDP, so no going back!!) and a few thoughts have taken up residence. Can anyone offer opinions, profound insights or simple blind prejudice to my questions?

 

Does my NAD DAC minimise the differences between say higher resolution discs (DVD-A and SACD, for example) and standard CD? I have a small collection of the former and they sound good. Really good. Yet when I played them alongside the CD or Lossless version of the same track I noticed few major differences. DVD-A, perhaps, sneaked it, but the Lossless rip from the CD of the same material sounded virtually the same/as good on most occasions. 

Blu-ray audio sounds great too, in the right hands, but even then the CD or Lossless versions weren't too far behind. Some sounded very similar to me. 

The biggest differences, so far, in so called hi-rez versus standard has been when I've tried a few 24bit LPs through the USB port. 

So should I be pleased that my system (see below) makes most music sound good, regardless of bit & sampling rates or should I be disappointed that there isn't more daylight between the formats?

 

For reference most of my digital listening during the last month has been with the following:

DVD-A : Talking Heads' Speaking In Tongues, Remain In Light, Little Creatures; various Neil Young LPs

SACD: Tommy - The Who, various orchestral pieces, (Bartok, Nancorrow, Carter, Varese), Dylan. 

Blu-ray: Neil Young's Archives Vol.1, Zep's Celebration Day, Lou Reed's Berlin, Radiohead's From The Basement

24 bit files: George Harrison Early Takes, Steely Dan's Gaucho, Rush's Moving Pictures, Peter Gabriel's So & Scratch My Back, various MMJ live shows, Paul's Boutique by The Beastie Boys and King Of Limbs by Radiohead. 

__________________

Roksan Caspian Pre amp, Caspian Mono Power amp x 2, NAD M51 DAC, B&W 805 Signature, Roksan Radius turntable, Denon-1713UD, MF phono & headphone amps, PS3, Mac/AE/Apple TV

MajorFubar
MajorFubar's picture
Offline
Joined: 3 Mar 2010
Posts: 2347
RE: Denon as transport - a month on. DAC dominates?

The popular belief round here is you won't hear much difference from format to format, it's all about the quality of the source-master and the care taken to transcode it to the delivery-medium.

__________________

Main gear: Mac Mini > HRT Streamer II+ > Marantz PM66 KI > Mission 794

Also cluttering-up the place:

Thorens TD160 no cartridge; Marantz CD63 mkII KI; Technics SL-P777; Cyrus 2 + PSX; Cyrus Tuner; Nakamichi DR-1

Native_bon
Native_bon's picture
Offline
Joined: 26 Nov 2008
Posts: 571
RE: Denon as transport - a month on. DAC dominates?

MajorFubar wrote:

The popular belief round here is you won't hear much difference from format to format, it's all about the quality of the source-master and the care taken to transcode it to the delivery-medium.

 +1

All things being equal I think speakers & room acoustics makes the most change to the sound of a system.

__________________

No rules. If it sounds good to you it sounds Right!!.Transpor:t . Oppo BDP-105EU Blue ray player.DAC: Rega dac & Audio lab M-Dac. AMP; MARANTZ SR7007. SPEAKER'S; SONUS FABER CREMONA'S. (FLOOR STANDING) SYSTEM STAND:QUADRASPIRE. INTERCONNECT;CHORD CHAMELEON SLIVER PLUS. DIGITAL CABLE:Clearer Audio silver Optimus. SPEAKER CABLES: RUSS ANDREWS CRYSTAL-24... Mains conditioner: Isol 8.

Computer: Yototech: 600T case: graphice GTX690 Graphics card. 32gb RAM. Processor: I7 3960X. Solid state drive. 500gb. Sata drive 2TB. blue ray drive. studio monitors: Yamaha SH80M Active speakers. Mixer: Presonus studiolive 16.0.2. Audio connection Firewire via presonus. Screen: Asus 27inch VG278H

stevebrock
stevebrock's picture
Offline
Joined: 13 Nov 2009
Posts: 1111
RE: Denon as transport - a month on. DAC dominates?

MajorFubar wrote:

The popular belief round here is you won't hear much difference from format to format, it's all about the quality of the source-master and the care taken to transcode it to the delivery-medium.

exactly it all in the original mastering! I found this out the expensive way!

 

__________________

Synology DS212j > Rega DAC > Rega Brio R > Rega RS1

Rega RP6 / Exact

Chord Chameleon Plus / Odyssey 2

Panasonic TX-P50 GT50 > BDP110e > Yamaha RX-V 667 > Rega Vox

Charlie Jefferson
Charlie Jefferson's picture
Offline
Joined: 2 Sep 2007
Posts: 1413
RE: Denon as transport - a month on. DAC dominates?

My less than entirely empirical tests, aka my own ears, would concur with the above, mostly. 

 

Thanks. 

__________________

Roksan Caspian Pre amp, Caspian Mono Power amp x 2, NAD M51 DAC, B&W 805 Signature, Roksan Radius turntable, Denon-1713UD, MF phono & headphone amps, PS3, Mac/AE/Apple TV

ID.
ID.'s picture
Offline
Joined: 22 Feb 2010
Posts: 906
RE: Denon as transport - a month on. DAC dominates?

That certainly matches up with my experience. There usually isn't a huge leap in sound quality, and a good CD/lossless recording can sound great.

__________________

Observe the signature in its natural habitat.