Okay, so a search through the forums seems to turn up a bunch of confusing stuff concerning digital distortion or something. Here's the general premises of what's going on.
I just got a set of B&W CM8 Speakers powered by the Rotel Stereo Pre-amp and amp (RC-1580 and RB-1552 respectively). The pre-amp only takes analogue inputs (via RCA) so the Rotel solution would be to use their CD player ($999) which contains an internal Wolfson DAC. I personally wasn't too keen on using the Rotel CD player mostly because it's a $999 box that only plays CDs. You can't even use the internal DAC independently because there isn't a digital input. So I figured I would get a DAC (leaning towards the Arcam rDAC, any suggestions there?) and connect an old cheap DVD player via Co-axial cables.
I assume that there shouldn't be any loss in signal quality due to the not-so-great DVD player because it is just reading and outputting digital signals. Since the rDAC is doing the heavy lifting of converting the signal, I should still be able to get the same quality if I had gotten the CD player right?
The other advantage of getting the DAC other than saving $500 is the possibility of expansion. I do plan on ripping my CDs loselessly soon and streaming it off a computer. By having a dedicated DAC, this should be pretty easy via USB or Toslink.
Thanks in advance for the input!
Equipment (Sorry, won't let me post links)
DVD Player : APEX AD-660 (Co-Ax Out)
Also have a Pioneer DV-525 with Co-ax and Optical Toslink (Both aren't being used so either one could work)
DAC : Arcam rDac
Preamp : Rotel RC-1580
Amp: Rotel RB-1552
Speakers : Bower&Wilkins CM8
I just got a set of B&W CM8 Speakers powered by the Rotel Stereo Pre-amp and amp (RC-1580 and RB-1552 respectively). The pre-amp only takes analogue inputs (via RCA) so the Rotel solution would be to use their CD player ($999) which contains an internal Wolfson DAC. I personally wasn't too keen on using the Rotel CD player mostly because it's a $999 box that only plays CDs. You can't even use the internal DAC independently because there isn't a digital input. So I figured I would get a DAC (leaning towards the Arcam rDAC, any suggestions there?) and connect an old cheap DVD player via Co-axial cables.
I assume that there shouldn't be any loss in signal quality due to the not-so-great DVD player because it is just reading and outputting digital signals. Since the rDAC is doing the heavy lifting of converting the signal, I should still be able to get the same quality if I had gotten the CD player right?
The other advantage of getting the DAC other than saving $500 is the possibility of expansion. I do plan on ripping my CDs loselessly soon and streaming it off a computer. By having a dedicated DAC, this should be pretty easy via USB or Toslink.
Thanks in advance for the input!
Equipment (Sorry, won't let me post links)
DVD Player : APEX AD-660 (Co-Ax Out)
Also have a Pioneer DV-525 with Co-ax and Optical Toslink (Both aren't being used so either one could work)
DAC : Arcam rDac
Preamp : Rotel RC-1580
Amp: Rotel RB-1552
Speakers : Bower&Wilkins CM8