Hello
Im interested in upgrading my cd player, I guess replacing the DAC would be a good starting place, maybe purchasing something from twisted pear audio.
The Question is for a newbie is there a site describing just how replacing this dac is done, is it as easy as that or does each model of cd player differ.
Cheers
Dan
Im interested in upgrading my cd player, I guess replacing the DAC would be a good starting place, maybe purchasing something from twisted pear audio.
The Question is for a newbie is there a site describing just how replacing this dac is done, is it as easy as that or does each model of cd player differ.
Cheers
Dan
The term "DAC" may refer to two thigs:
1. On a CD player you can identify, at the highest level, several "subsystems"; two very important ones are "transport" and "DAC".
"Transport" extracts the digital information from the disk (to describe it quickly), and "DAC" converts it to an analog signal that can then be amplified to make "sound". This "DAC" subsystem is itself composed of several pieces, such as "digital filters", "digital-to-analog converter", and "output analog stages" of different kinds.
2. In the "DAC" subsystem described above, there is a chip called the "digital-to-analog converter", or DAC. Such a chip cannot work "standalone", but only with the appropriate other components around.
"Replacing the DAC" as in "2" can only be made in very specific conditions, such as putting a higher "grade" of the same DAC chip. The cases where you have "drop-in", or almost, replacements are very rare.
Replacing the DAC as in "1" means using your CDP as a "transport only" and tapping a digital signal (usually SPDIF, or I2S if available) to feed an "external DAC" (it actually doesn't have to be external, if you diy it into the same case, or no case at all, like in prototypes...)
So let's call it "separate", rather than "external".
And then, to answer your question,
you WILL find some introductory explanations in wikipedia and howstuffworks.com and and and
_
1. On a CD player you can identify, at the highest level, several "subsystems"; two very important ones are "transport" and "DAC".
"Transport" extracts the digital information from the disk (to describe it quickly), and "DAC" converts it to an analog signal that can then be amplified to make "sound". This "DAC" subsystem is itself composed of several pieces, such as "digital filters", "digital-to-analog converter", and "output analog stages" of different kinds.
2. In the "DAC" subsystem described above, there is a chip called the "digital-to-analog converter", or DAC. Such a chip cannot work "standalone", but only with the appropriate other components around.
"Replacing the DAC" as in "2" can only be made in very specific conditions, such as putting a higher "grade" of the same DAC chip. The cases where you have "drop-in", or almost, replacements are very rare.
Replacing the DAC as in "1" means using your CDP as a "transport only" and tapping a digital signal (usually SPDIF, or I2S if available) to feed an "external DAC" (it actually doesn't have to be external, if you diy it into the same case, or no case at all, like in prototypes...)
So let's call it "separate", rather than "external".
And then, to answer your question,
you WILL find some introductory explanations in wikipedia and howstuffworks.com and and and
_
- Status
- This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.