Incorporate DAC with Integrated Amp.

[_thelaughingman]

Hello all,

I have a Topping E30 that I would like to incorporate into my stereo system setup. My current setup for stereo is as such Sony 5 Disc CD Player, Audio Technica LP-60 feeding into Denon PMA-600NE via RCA. The Denon amp has an onboard DAC that to me doesn't sound that great and feel that there could be better sound if a DAC is incorporated. Would feeding the signal out of the CD player to E30 improve the sound? There is a way to bypass the onboard DAC on the amp by selecting "Direct Source" which bypasses the processing.

 

[Alexanderc]

I wouldn’t expect you to hear an audible difference, but the Topping likely measures better if that gives you peace of mind. There’s no harm in trying it.

What about from a convenience point of view? Is it easier to switch between sources with one setup over the other, that sort of thing. I feed digital out from my CD player to my AVR because it means fewer cables.

 

[Desmo]

The "source direct" button only disables the bass and treble control.

When you connect the DAC to the CD RCA inputs and use "anloge mode". The internal DAC is bypassed.

 

[_thelaughingman]

Well gentleman, i think i'll have to upgrade the CD player to be able to use an external dac like Topping. I wasn't thinking or paid attention to the fact that the CD player only has RCA out.

 

[Spocko]

Well gentleman, i think i'll have to upgrade the CD player to be able to use an external dac like Topping. I wasn't thinking or paid attention to the fact that the CD player only has RCA out.

Or you can rip your CD collection and convert everything into digital streaming. I find the Bluesound Vault 2i to be well designed, easy to use and a great all in one solution if you are considering this approach: https://www.bluesound.com/products/vault/
BlueOS overall is solid and compatible with many great NAD products which also measure well on ASR.

 

[curiouspeter]

Or you can rip your CD collection and convert everything into digital streaming. I find the Bluesound Vault 2i to be well designed, easy to use and a great all in one solution if you are considering this approach: https://www.bluesound.com/products/vault/
BlueOS overall is solid and compatible with many great NAD products which also measure well on ASR.

For the same price as a Vault, you can get a NAS and run Roon from there. Even a $20 USB DVD drive can rip CDs into bit-perfect FLACs (using EAC or dbPoweramp).

Roon also does DSP like room correction (with some work using REW). It is also great at managing your music collection, including Tidal/Qobuz streaming.

You really have to listen hard to hear the differences between DACs (if they exist at all). However, you can certainly hear the effects of room correction. Of course, usability improvement is also immediate and obvious. I no longer have to look for a particular CD. I just access it from Roon using my tablet as a remote.

 

[Spocko]

For the same price as a Vault, you can get a NAS and run Roon from there. Even a $20 USB DVD drive can rip CDs into bit-perfect FLACs (using EAC or dbPoweramp).

Roon also does DSP like room correction (with some work using REW). It is also great at managing your music collection, including Tidal/Qobuz streaming.

You really have to listen hard to hear the differences between DACs (if they exist at all). However, you can certainly hear the effects of room correction. Of course, usability improvement is also immediate and obvious. I no longer have to look for a particular CD. I just access it from Roon using my tablet as a remote.

Exactly. The DIY crowd has many affordable options today to fit everyone's capability and budget. Personally, I have found that as I get older, time has become more and more precious to me, and I prefer to pay a little extra for plug-n-play simplicity.

 

[_thelaughingman]

Would it be wise to get a Roon Nucleus since I don’t have a much of a digital library? Or running an endpoint on a NAS would suffice? I listen to most of my music off Amazon HD and Spotify for the wife, and don’t see much integration on roon for those two services.

 

[curiouspeter]

Would it be wise to get a Roon Nucleus since I don’t have a much of a digital library? Or running an endpoint on a NAS would suffice? I listen to most of my music off Amazon HD and Spotify for the wife, and don’t see much integration on roon for those two services.

If you mostly use Amazon Music HD you probably need something else. Roon has NO integration whatsoever with Amazon Music.

In that case, the Bluesound Vault 2i would be a good choice because BluOS supports Amazon Music. You can also use Spotify Connect with BluOS.