Transport - DAC to Amp

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic. Read 209 times.

samratraj

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 2
Transport - DAC to Amp
« on: 12 Oct 2021, 12:15 pm »
Was wondering how and why the transport will have impact on the sound if we are taking the signal and then going thru a separate DAC and then to PREAMP/ AMP

Wouldnt the DAC decide the quality of sound in the chain and then the other components.

What i mean is if you have a  SONOS or BLUSOUND or AURENDER will the sound change if they all flow through the same chain with digital out from the transports to an external DAC

richidoo

Re: Transport - DAC to Amp
« Reply #1 on: 12 Oct 2021, 01:30 pm »
Welcome to AudioCircle, samratraj!

The answer in one word is "jitter"

Jitter is the timing variation between digital samples. A CD streams 44,100 samples per second and they should be exactly 1/44,100th of a second apart. When this interval fluctuates longer and shorter it's called jitter. Most older DACs rely on the timing of the incoming digital signal for their own timing, meaning they make no extra effort to reclock the samples to reduce jitter. This is 95% of DACs in the world. But now that jitter "is a thing" audiophile DACs and transports do make efforts of varying success to reduce jitter.

I used Sonos ZP-80 as my main digital source for many years. It is very high jitter. I recently upgraded to the cheapest Aurender N100 and the difference was impressive. A friend sold the N100 to me after he upgraded to N20 and experienced a noticeable improvement over N100.

FullRangeMan

  • Facilitator
  • Posts: 20898
  • To whom more was given more will be required.
    • Never go to a psychiatrist, adopt a straycat or dog. On the street they live only two years average.
Re: Transport - DAC to Amp
« Reply #2 on: 12 Oct 2021, 01:59 pm »
Was wondering how and why the transport will have impact on the sound if we are taking the signal and then going thru a separate DAC and then to PREAMP/ AMP

Wouldnt the DAC decide the quality of sound in the chain and then the other components.

What i mean is if you have a  SONOS or BLUSOUND or AURENDER will the sound change if they all flow through the same chain with digital out from the transports to an external DAC
Thansport make a difference as cables etc there is various types or transports, Philips CDM, Sony fixed, Sony moving disc, Pioneer etc