Actually, that's a damn fine question. I'll admit to seriously considering an outboard DAC for my Marantz CD6003, but (and it's a BIG but) I'm not sure exactly why when I stand back and take a deep breath. Perceived wisdom (i.e. all those bright shiny reviews) say a decent outboard DAC will be an improvement on the the built-in DAC of a low to mid end CD player. My 6003 cost me £112.00 on eBay so it certainly falls within the blunt end of that low/mid price wedge, but it also still sounds pretty nice to me. This is probably the place where I reveal my system, and on any other forum look around at the huge clouds of dust left by the snobs leaving the thread in droves. I'm bi-amping an Arcam Alpha 8/8p combo into Epos ES11 speakers via QED Profile Silver Speaker Cable. Pretty low-end compared to some of the systems I've seen mentioned here, but we cut our cloth according to our means...which is another thread completely. So, before I get completely side-tracked by the fact that that it's almost 3:00 in the morning, and I'm now on the dregs of a nice bottle of port, I'll ask two questions if I may...jammy395 wrote:WTF....is all the fuss about DAC's for..............Why.........?Jammy. :?
#1 - Do you think my system would benefit from an outboard DAC (I'm looking at a Bushmaster, and would use it for my DAB as well as my CDP?)
#2 - I was going to ask this one at a later date but I may as well combine it to save space and also to save rambling on for a second time - Do you think my money would be better spent (or not spent at all) on a set of LS3 speaker cables? Doc, it's your product, but I'd appreciate your view too as I Know I can rely on your placing common sense before the opportunity to sell me something I don't actually need.
p.s.
I do like the Arcam/Marantz combination. I also run an Arcam A75/Marantz CD5001 setup in my office, or as the missus still likes to call it, the spare bedroom.