Why would I need a stand alone DAC?

I guess I'll have to spend countless more hours reading about DAC's now . Why would i need one. My Denon DVD2910 has Burr Brown DAC's. I just run anolog from there.
Or am I missing somthing here?

beats me, I am DAC illiterate...

ch46eseaknight wrote:I guess I'll have to spend countless more hours reading about DAC's now . Why would i need one. My Denon DVD2910 has Burr Brown DAC's. I just run anolog from there.
Or am I missing somthing here?

I personally think that they have some purpose driven uses. I use a SuperDac 707 usb with my computer setup. I didn't want a big amp on my desk or a reciever so I built a DIY Class D amp...I needed to the DAC to get the audio from the Computer to the Amp....It works freaking awesome and the Amp that BillnChristy and Dweekie helped me with rocks the ELT525m's hard.

But to add a dac to a system that already has good to great dac's to me seems kinda pointless unless you have a super high end system.

monkeypimp wrote:

ch46eseaknight wrote:I guess I'll have to spend countless more hours reading about DAC's now . Why would i need one. My Denon DVD2910 has Burr Brown DAC's. I just run anolog from there.
Or am I missing somthing here?

I personally think that they have some purpose driven uses. I use a SuperDac 707 usb with my computer setup. I didn't want a big amp on my desk or a reciever so I built a DIY Class D amp...I needed to the DAC to get the audio from the Computer to the Amp....It works freaking awesome and the Amp that BillnChristy and Dweekie helped me with rocks the ELT525m's hard.

But to add a dac to a system that already has good to great dac's to me seems kinda pointless unless you have a super high end system.

Pretty much! The DAC in my macbook Pro is far inferior to the Nuforce uDAC that I have hooked up to it.

an extrenal dac is only necessary in certain circumstances. very very high end 2 channel systems using a multi-part transport-dac-psu-clock-etc. (think dCS scarlatti) kind of setup, studio setups (multi channel ad/da conversion), and computer audio for 2 channel listening..

Matt

I can think of other situations where one would need an ext. DAC: like mine:
I use a low cost Onkyo DVD changer as my primary CD player, and obviously the on board DAC is not of very high quality, because audio is not the primary purpose of a DVD changer, but i wanted the comfort of a changer AND better audio quality: I got a $80 Super Pro 707 DAC and modded it with a help of a member at av123 (during the good times there, upgraded some caps, and eletrilytic paper lining of the inside). so i use the dvd changer with this DAC, and the SQ is like 10x better - it sounds like a $700-800 CD player now.
Another member did a comparo test with his Paradisea DAC (about $800) and the tiny super pro came very close being equal.

so, IMO, to turn a low cost player into a transporter and bypass its built in DAC, and to improve the SQ a lot, an affordable DAC is a great tool.

your system does NOT have to be "very very high end" to use a DAC and get a lot of benefits .[u]

+1

washburn wrote:
so, IMO, to turn a low cost player into a transporter and bypass its built in DAC, and to improve the SQ a lot, an affordable DAC is a great tool.

your system does NOT have to be "very very high end" to use a DAC and get a lot of benefits .[u]

So do you think it would be an upgrade for my Denon dvd-2910?

Can you find out which built-in DACs that Denon has? if they're inferior to the ext. DAC you're considering, then you will have an advantage.

I'm pretty sure when I read about it before buying it had Burr-Brown DAC's. It also plays DVD-Audio and SACD's. 192Khz

I am not sure how much you would benefit; but from what I have read, even when the on board and ext DAC are of equal quality, an external DAC still has advantages depending on how it is "implemented" (i am not sure what that exactly means); and you can add cheap mods to make it a lot better, too...

In my case, when I purchased the ext Super Pro DAC, I did many side by side comparisons until I was sure that there WAS a definite difference in SQ, so I kept the ext DAC; when I modded the ext DAC for about $30, the difference became even bigger; I mean it sounds really like a rather expensive CDp now.... and the DAC that I had in the Onkyo wasn't "bad" by any means-they were Wolfsson DACs, which are pretty decent, from what I have read. the tiny ext DAC still outplayed it dramatically. Denon is a higher quality product (at least per reputation) than Onkyo, though.

so, even though Burr Brown DACs are good DACs, you "might" get a better SQ with the ext DAC..the best way to decide is, order the ext DAC you have in mind, and do several comparisons, and if you think it's the same/worse, just send it back; you might lose a few $ in shipping it back, but at least you will know, and stop wondering.

A friend of mine installed Bursons in his Music Hall...







This is not his video but I thought it was informative;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ4zuQR6QBQ