[rob]

hi all

i have a dac from scott nixon running of a 12v battery and am well impressed..
but while reading through these threads i noticed a couple of people mentioned the removal of the rec' chip.
with this in mind has anyone concidered using a cd transport and fitting the dac inside hence removing the rec'chip. if so what transport did you use? did you need to make any other mods and would a new clock ( a la audiocom etc) help?
thanks

rob

[rob]

ok
 is the lack of replies due to my newness,the fact i have no picture or the fact that i'm English?

r

[Marbles]

Rob,

I think the lack of replies means were not sure and don't want to give you bad advice.

I would try to find a used Cal Delta transport to try it with.  Of course the only thing your saving for a one box solution is a digital cable and very good ones are only $60 bucks (Bolder Cable).  Not sure how you would wire the power to the SN DAC inside the transport either.

Good luck, try it and let us know how it works out.

[rob]

Marbles
thanks for reply.
i see what you are saying and i have a good digi cable ( lifted from marconni's space divison   ) but i have seen a couple of threads where it has been said that the removal of the reciever chip has a sonic improvment added to this the dac will be alot closer to the source so there may well be a decrease in jitter.
am just throwing ideas into the pot and would like others to throws theirs ideas in as well,no matter how 'out there' they may be?

ta
rob

[JoshK]

Rob,

I think it is worth a try, especially if you get your hands on one of Pioneer's cheaper DVD players (I think in the $150 range) that is said to have a great transport mechanism.  You could remove the DAC from the player (suppose to be good too btw) and put the SC DAC in its place.  I would also look to upgrade the PS probably in the player as you know it isn't going to be the best.  Once you did this, you could then later tweak and upgrade possibly by doing an audiocom clock mod or otherwise and you would have more of a sense of whether that was a worthwhile upgrade or not.  

Cheers,
Josh

[tmd]

Rob,
Have you asked Scott for any input on it? I would love to hear his DAC. I will eventually get one to listen to and had similar thoughts to you on integrating it into a transport so I will be watching for your experiences.
Neil.

[rob]

hi all
 ta for replies

i havent sent anything to Scott as he his pretty busy at the mo,so was gonna spend the next month or so getting ideas together,then putting the final idea to Scott.
ah theres an idea a modern dvd machine!!  had thought of using an older hi-end machine - ie if i could come across a meridan 207/8 with a broken pre-amp section,but there would be the problem of spares etc.
anyother players people could recommend,or other ideas on the same subject?

rob

[tmd]

Would a CD-Rom drive from a PC be easily mateable to the SN? You can get some with an IR remote control to do simple play, pause, stop etc. functionality. Might be interesting to try it.
I have an Arcam Alpha 7 which I thought was a good player and seems to work well as a transport for the few dacs I have tried it with.

[rob]

tmb
that could be another go route,but i have heard that standard pc transports dont have a good digi output,can someone enlighten me?
i am using an acram 170 at the mo,just like the idea of building a complete unit using scotts tube dac kit.

rob

[tmd]

| suggested the Arcam as it is probably cheap at this stage and there are probably many good used examples. You could gut the rest and pop in the SN instead.

[Carlman]

tmb
that could be another go route,but i have heard that standard pc transports dont have a good digi output,can someone enlighten me?
i am using an acram 170 at the mo,just like the idea of building a complete unit using scotts tube dac kit.

rob

I hardwired a CD-Rom drive's digital outs to a Soundstream DAC-1.  It worked but the sound was just OK.  However, my wiring to the CD-rom was suspect.  There's 2 pins on the cd that you need to figure out the best way to connect to a digital cable.  I took apart a cable I didn't like for the experiment.

I thought about moving the electronics of the DAC-1 to the case in the Arcam 70.2... no way would it fit. (just by looking)  I also tried using an empty DVD player for my CDROM/DAC combo... didn't work out... I got tired of trying to figure it out and sold the CD player.  I don't have the case building skills or tools to take on these kinds of endeavors.  From now on, my DAC's are separate pieces of equipment, equally tweakable to any other component.

I have owned an Arcam 70.2 CD and am currently using an Arcam Alpha 8.  I think the transports are Sony on some models.  In any case, from what I've read a transport makes a difference but, not as much as a DAC.  I disagree.  I think both are equally important.  The Alpha 8 is a very good transport... I would also consider Theta or Musical Fidelity... or a Rotel... depending on budget.   The advice I've been given is to upgrade the DAC first, then make changes to the clock and other things.  From people I've spoken with, the clock upgrade has averaged about a 10% improvement.  


Good luck,
Carl

[rob]

thanks all for replies.
am going to save to get the tubedac and get that running,then am going to have a look at a new transport and Guido tents clocks for transport and dacs.

how does that sound?
 
rob

[Carlman]

thanks all for replies.
am going to save to get the tubedac and get that running,then am going to have a look at a new transport and Guido tents clocks for transport and dacs.

how does that sound?
 
rob

It sounds like a plan.  If I understand CD players and DAC's, though.. I think some DAC's have their own clock and therefore replacing the clock in the transport may not yield a big result.  I don't know if it gets bypassed with a DAC or if doing this would be redundant.  I'd be interested to learn if there is difference in sound.  

In any case, it sounds as though you'll be 'jitter-free'.

[rob]

carlman
interesting point re the clocks. i have sen a system from Gudio Tent that links the clocks in both the dac and the transport which looks like it could do away with jitter.
another problem has made itself known,is which dac?      
i have been doing some reading on Gudio's site and am 'drawn' to his dac even though it is more money. in this vain is there anyone here that has used/heard the scott nixon dac with the tube o/put stage and could comment on the sonics over the std version.

http://members.brabant.chello.nl/~m.heijligers/DAChtml/dactop.htm

rob

[Hantra]

Rob:

i have heard both.  I greatly prefer the tubed version of Scott's DAC.  In my all tube system, I thought it would be too much, but it adds that last bit of magic to it.  Sounds really good!  

I heard the AN 3.1x Balanced, and the Zanden last week, and while both sounded really good, 6 and 10 G's respectively, I'll take the Nixon DAC.  I think it'd hold it's own too.

B

[rob]

B
thanks for that,i wondered if the tube output stage going into tube amp may be 'too tubey'.
am going have to think about this one as a couple of kit dac have been added to my list along with scotts so am gonna makw a phono stage    and come back to it with cleaner ears

rob

[theborg]

Whoever it is in this thread that has the email address briley@something: kindly do something about your spam bouncer rejecting topic notification email.

Thanks.

[Elso Kwak]

ok
 is the lack of replies due to my newness,the fact i have no picture or the fact that i'm English?

r

Hi rob,
You will need a player with I2S signals to feed the TDA1543 DAC. Most probably a Philips player will work. If your CDP has the SAA7210 DSP chip it works for sure as in mines.
Compared with the CS8412 it makes a huge difference, much more smooth, less "digital".

[rob]

elso
i believe my transport (acram 170) has a is2 line but will need to check circuit.was all geared up to do this over the easter hols but as usual  other jobs have appeared..  so it will have to sit on the back burner (along with the phono stage-just await a couple of parts) gilder and surf board repairs.....
rob