new dac for my cd67

[Drew.J.K]

Hi, Atm im looking around on the inet for a new converter to connect up to my marantz cd67. So far the only thing ive really been able to source is the DEQ2496 EQ/DAC. EQ in itself would be damn handy for my system, but first and foremost is finding a nice sounding agile dac for $350-400 (if im guaranteed great dynamics and a reasonable soundstage i'll goto $500). Could anyone whos looked into the same price bracket on DAC's pass a few easily available alternatives?

also is the quality of sound from using the DEQ2496s internal dac any good?

thx

[brianuk]

I'd seriously consider upgrading that player if I were you, for less money you can get a clock and various other mods completed for you within the UK. You would certainly see a benefit with PSU upgrades etc.

If you are not in the UK then if you are handy you could probably do 90% as good yourself.

Goodluck,
Brian.

ps I am of the opinion that using a seperate DAC can add to the losses unless its a very expensive dedicated Transport and DAC system, which added to a CD67 it wouldn't be.

[Drew.J.K]

Hi, my CD67se has already been moddied a little, digital section re-capped with os-con SP's, analouge section with cerafine/silmic, superclock, case dampening, chokes+ferrites replacing fuseable resistor's, IC shielding, cmc and a x2 on the power line, schottky's in the rectifiers, lm6172 op-amps, polystyrene filter caps handling the signal after the DAC, OFC-low distortion cheap vishey resistors though out the analouge section, headphone stage disconnected, power switch replaced with a piece of bare copper, all other caps replaced with low leakage panasonics, muting transistors removed, mclk/sclk/wclck/data lines hardwired with coax, mlcc's round the dac-decoder. Ive also got some vampire OFC alloy reverse mount RCA sockets already here or college that need to be installed, further intentions are a couple of 5v PSU's for the clock and decoder-dac. Still i'd like to get my mits of a nice DAC that'll upgrade the limits of my current setup. Any DAC suggestions welcomed, 500euro bracket

[wuffwaff]

HI,

look for a perpetual P3-A on EBAY. Great value even in standard form. Changing some caps and the opamps makes it even better and there´s always the option of adding a P1-A.......

William

[brianuk]

Crikey Drew, thats what you call modded a little!?

After all that if you're not happy with it then perhaps the player itself has to be questioned?

Personnally I have never heard much of an improvement with a sepearte DAC - but perhaps it depends on the transport just as much.

Whats the rest of your set up and what kinda music you into?

[ThorstenL]

Konnichiwa,

Originally posted by Drew.J.K
Hi, my CD67se has already been moddied a little, digital section re-capped with os-con SP's, analouge section with cerafine/silmic, superclock, case dampening, chokes+ferrites replacing fuseable resistor's, IC shielding, cmc and a x2 on the power line, schottky's in the rectifiers, lm6172 op-amps, polystyrene filter caps handling the signal after the DAC, OFC-low distortion cheap vishey resistors though out the analouge section, headphone stage disconnected, power switch replaced with a piece of bare copper, all other caps replaced with low leakage panasonics, muting transistors removed, mclk/sclk/wclck/data lines hardwired with coax, mlcc's round the dac-decoder. Ive also got some vampire OFC alloy reverse mount RCA sockets already here or college that need to be installed, further intentions are a couple of 5v PSU's for the clock and decoder-dac.

That sounds a lot like some of the inspiration for the mods came from my old articles. If you have implemented these mods well, you will have a highly capable and inherently quite neutral CD-Player. I tested my own variation against a range of commercial gear and there was very little to outperform it, EXCEPT anything with a "soft" digital filter (Wadia, Pioneer heavily modded only like Evans Eikos) and Non-Oversampling and even then in specific areas one may possibly put down to colorations from the other devices (but ones that arguably enhance CD sound).

So, I think if you want to better your player in a meaningfull way for € 500 you will have a hard time with any mainstream thing.

There are a few "extreme" mods that can take the 67 further, also make sure to implement the Pink Fish Media Clock Hack even if or especially when using an external clock.

Secondly consider a really serious outboard powersupply for the analogue stage. This can give improved low frequency performance, dynamics etc.

Originally posted by Drew.J.K
Still i'd like to get my mits of a nice DAC that'll upgrade the limits of my current setup. Any DAC suggestions welcomed, 500euro bracket

As I think I have a rough idea of what your player should be capable of, do you mind telling us what particular are you wish to improve and where you percieve "the limits of your current setup"? Also, what else does your setup comprise of, are you sure the player is the limiting factor?

Sayonara

[ThorstenL]

PS.....

I have a Behringer DEQ2496 here, stock it is MILES WORSE than a decently modded CD67, it may give a small improvement on a stock CD63/67/6000 but even that is doubtful.

My Behringer currently is quite modified and will be modified even more, it is now okay for decoding the sound from DVD played on my Media Center PC and for backgrund music from the same, but not (yet) for serious CD replay, for my taste

Sayonara

[Lourens]

Originally posted by brianuk
After all that if you're not happy with it then perhaps the player itself has to be questioned?

Good question. After all the mods you already did and seconding (is this still english?) KYW's opinion that "there is very little to outperform it" the weakest link will be surely the cdm12.1 drive in you CD67. Replacing the DAC won't make sense, then, IMHO.

Originally posted by brianuk
Personnally I have never heard much of an improvement with a sepearte DAC - but perhaps it depends on the transport just as much.

I did. If you take the same care of things, it will be very rewarding. Ever tried a cdm1 drive with a decent external DAC? Even cdm1 mkII or cdm4/x (certainly cdm4/36!) will outperform the cdm12.1 (again IMHO....). Why not using your hot rodded CD67 as a DAC, and use it as a (word clock) master to slave one of those old heavy weight drives (after you upgraded the psu!)

groeten
Lourens