How much difference does a good DAC makes

My system

Technics SL MC7(110 disk changer) 10 year old and used as a transport.
B&K REF 30 preamp. Also used as DAC as my cd changer is connected thru optical cable.
B&K 7270 Multichannel AMP (200w X 7)
Paradigm S4 Signature fronts
Paradigm C3 Center channel.
REl Stata III sub

Are the DAC's of the preamps are of sub standard quality.

How much difference does the external DAC make compared to the one in a preamp.

Thanks
Pandu

Hi Pandu, The DAC can make a difference. But the DAC in your preamp I'm sure is not of substandard quality. However a good dedicated DAC may improve such things as tonal/timbral accuracy, top to bottom balance, dimensional imaging such as a 3-D perspective and soundstage width, depth and height. Really good DACs have a way of making the music sound very natural with life-like sparkle - more like the real thing, when digital has a tendency to sound slightly harsh, processed, lacking frequency extreme air and extension, therefore sounding less realistic. But again, this is only conjecture. Before you buy anything, listen very carefully to a demonstration to see if there is an improvement. Don't let others tell you there's a difference, listen carefully for yourself. See if you can borrow a DAC to listen to in your system and see if there is an improvement over the DAC built into your processor. If the difference is not very noticable, I wouldn't bother wasting your money. Rather, think about putting it towards a turntable perhaps.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by O'Shag

Hi Pandu, The DAC can make a difference. But the DAC in your preamp I'm sure is not of substandard quality.

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Whattup Shaggy, good to see you around and giving solid advice.


Pandu, good to have you aboard. I agree with Shag that it's very likely your DAC isn't "substandard". At that level you may find some interesting differences but they not always equate to better. I agree too that you should try to home audition if at all possible. Often the most obvious changes tend not to be the best in the longrun.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pdhanwada

My system

Technics SL MC7(110 disk changer) 10 year old and used as a transport.
B&K REF 30 preamp. Also used as DAC as my cd changer is connected thru optical cable.
B&K 7270 Multichannel AMP (200w X 7)
Paradigm S4 Signature fronts
Paradigm C3 Center channel.
REl Stata III sub

Are the DAC's of the preamps are of sub standard quality.

How much difference does the external DAC make compared to the one in a preamp.

Thanks
Pandu

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Tell me about the signitures. How do you like them? How do they compare to other speakers you have heard?

frenchmon

DAC's can make a big difference in sound, but not always. I just sold my Cambridge Audio 840c CDP which is an excellent CDP with excellent on board DACS, but I still upgraded to an external Van Alstine DAC. When I compared the DAC to the 840c there was no comparison, the DAC had greater transparency, clarity, sound stage, resolution and smoothness.

FrenchMon,

I like my signatures very much. Lately after adding the rel subwoofer, they look like sounding much better.

I had auditioned B&W bookshelfs, DALI, Thiels. before I bought them.

Again Paradigms sounded much better than the others probably beca.use they were driven by MCintosh MC 207, where as the others were driven by smaller amplifiers.

Thanks
Pandu

Frenchmon,

Also Dalis and Theils were more expensive than the paradigms signatures.

That was one of the resons I went for paradigms.

Thansk
pandu