The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

MikeH said:
nice one! i really wanted to grab an Oppo before I got the marantz from @AnthonyI ! Have heard nothing but great things about them
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Yeah, it was a bit of struggle to find a universal player that met my needs and was in my price range. My setup doesn't have a TV/monitor, so I needed something that could act as a standalone disc player without having to do everything on a screen. I was looking at some Sony models because they are one of the few manufacturers that have SACD playback capabilities and are priced under $1000. But they didn't have any user controls (e.g., play, stop, skip tracks) on the faceplate of the model I was looking at. They also didn't have analog outputs on the back, only HDMI, which wouldn't work with my older Yamaha receiver. Anyways, I found the Oppo BDP-93 on ebay for about $210 shipped/taxed. Thought that was fair. It appears to be in great shape. Has a decent internal DAC, can handle all sorts of inputs/outputs (2/5.1/7.1 analog; HDMI x2; optical; coax; USB). Only real risk is the company no longer exists, so if this thing craps out, believe it was made 12 years ago, probably won't be able to get it serviced. Granted it is not much of a risk at $200. Build quality seems solid and the company, from what I read, had a good reputation. I didn't want to drop $500 to $1500 on a disc player with SACD capabilities and that looks like what is currently out there from Yamaha and Marantz, and a few others.

Listening to the Japanese hybrid SACD of Mile's Kind of Blue.
 
Looking at a dedicated music streamer as an alternative to my Apple TV. Is there any discernible benefit to the Wiim Pro Plus over the Pro if it’s all going into a DAC?
 
ngower said:
Looking at a dedicated music streamer as an alternative to my Apple TV. Is there any discernible benefit to the Wiim Pro Plus over the Pro if it’s all going into a DAC?
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pretty sure the DAC is the big difference between the two. I would save the money and just go pro if I had a dac I was happy with.
 
One day when this dinosaur stops updating, I intend on doing our taxes. I had completely forgotten that I bought some kind of audiophile laptop, fuck if I know what it does:IMG_5404.jpegIMG_5403.jpeg

Edit - evidently it has b&o speakers in it? 🤷‍♀️
 
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Lee Newman said:
One day when this dinosaur stops updating, I intend on doing our taxes. I had completely forgotten that I bought some kind of audiophile laptop, fuck if I know what it does:View attachment 194080View attachment 194081

Edit - evidently it has b&o speakers in it? 🤷‍♀️
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Well, as long as the drivers are good, I’m sure you are experiencing full, lush sound from their 10mm drivers in a plastic enclosure. 😉
 
Reading through the cd60 manual while I wait impatiently to be able to put it in the system (I have to build a shelf for the turntable and am waiting on some brackets)….
Does this mean I have to turn off the dac even with coax or what the hell is it talking about?
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Lee Newman said:
Reading through the cd60 manual while I wait impatiently to be able to put it in the system (I have to build a shelf for the turntable and am waiting on some brackets)….
Does this mean I have to turn off the dac even with coax or what the hell is it talking about?
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So the COAX out would be bypassing its own DAC to use the DAC in your NAD using a COAX digital cable. It’s saying that there is an option to disable this output if you aren’t using it but that it will be enabled by default.

If I was A/B testing I’d have it enabled and I’d connect the CD player to the amp by both the RCA and COAX at the same time to allow you to real time switch between the two.
 
Joe Mac said:
So the COAX out would be bypassing its own DAC to use the DAC in your NAD using a COAX digital cable. It’s saying that there is an option to disable this output if you aren’t using it but that it will be enabled by default.

If I was A/B testing I’d have it enabled and I’d connect the CD player to the amp by both the RCA and COAX at the same time to allow you to real time switch between the two.
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That was my plan.
 
Lee Newman said:
@Joe Mac if I like the Marantz’s dac better is there some advantage to disabling the digital out?
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That’s debatable. There are some audiophiles who swear blind that options to disable everything, including display, have a huge impact on all their digital stuff. They also buy those funny plastic input and output covers that are comically priced for little pieces of plastic. My feeling is that it makes little or no difference but that options are nice and it might be worth seeing what you think yourself.
 
Joe Mac said:
That’s debatable. There are some audiophiles who swear blind that options to disable everything, including display, have a huge impact on all their digital stuff. They also buy those funny plastic input and output covers that are comically priced for little pieces of plastic. My feeling is that it makes little or no difference but that options are nice and it might be worth seeing what you think yourself.
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Makes me want to ask @Angsty . Sounds a little like snake oil. I guess it’s possible that it creates some noise but it doesn’t seem like it could possibly have an effect on the actual digital transfer.
 
Lee Newman said:
Makes me want to ask @Angsty . Sounds a little like snake oil. I guess it’s possible that it creates some noise but it doesn’t seem like it could possibly have an effect on the actual digital transfer.
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It really can be. I’m very skeptical. But I don’t think it necessarily is as a non cost option on a cd player. It’s just an option you can play with and make your own mind up on.
 
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