Which DAC should I use?

Mike Bronze Member Username: Diplotocus Post Number: 17 Registered: Jul-04	Posted on Friday, August 06, 2004 - 00:37 GMT I have a NAD T773 receiver and a NAD T533 CD/DVD player. Which DAC should I use? I'm assuming that since the T533 is a pretty decent CD/DVD player it would have a good DAC, but then again the T773 is supposed to be NAD's "flagship" receiver so it should have a good DAC also. Confused...anyone able to help me out? Thanks so much.
landroval Silver Member Username: Landroval Post Number: 464 Registered: Feb-04	Posted on Friday, August 06, 2004 - 07:22 GMT You can help yourself. Just try both and decide. There is no other magic than what you hear through your ears.
geekboy Silver Member Username: Geekboy Newport, RI United States Post Number: 279 Registered: Dec-03	Posted on Friday, August 06, 2004 - 21:04 GMT Mike: yeah, what landroval wrote. You should experiment and listen for which are better. You may not be able to tell the difference. I tend to go with the DACs in my DVD/CD player most of the time. I think it's just my preference but I get louder audio from using the analogue connections than I do through the Optical connections. Go figure.
Mike Bronze Member Username: Diplotocus Post Number: 18 Registered: Jul-04	Posted on Saturday, August 07, 2004 - 17:26 GMT Iandroval, That type of smart, witty, ignorant response did not help me nor anybody else at all. When someone asks a question, if you're not knowledgable enough to answer it then please do not reply. I was assuming that educated, well-versed autophiles would respond to my message. Of course I could simply use my ears to decide but I was TRYING to glean techincal information that would allow me to (1) understand my system better and (2) be able to order the right cables now since my system won't be set up for another month or so. Your ignorant, rude response did nothing to help me nor anyone else who might have the same "issue". I thought this site was for technically mjinded autophiles, not a bunch of kids. To all others who have answered my questions intelligently in an ADULT like manner I thank you very much and look forward to conversing with you in the future.
landroval Silver Member Username: Landroval Post Number: 466 Registered: Feb-04	Posted on Saturday, August 07, 2004 - 17:48 GMT Thanks, I'm happy to help I would have to say there really is no other way than trying out which sounds best to you. It's your system and you should not base your choices to anything else than what you experience with your own amp and player. Probably there is no big difference between the DACs of the 773 and 533, but if I would have to guess I would say CD better with 533 DACs, but DD/DTS better with 773 decoding and DACs. DVD-A works only with analog so there's no other choice than 533 DACs.
geekboy Silver Member Username: Geekboy Newport, RI United States Post Number: 280 Registered: Dec-03	Posted on Saturday, August 07, 2004 - 18:01 GMT Hey Mike: I tried to look up information, but it's sparse on the T773. The D/A section in the T773 is comprised of 24-bit/192kHz DACs. The D/A section in the T533 is comprised of 24-bit/192kHz DACs (for DVD-A). I don't know if the D533 and T773 use the same brand (or quality) of DAC components. I would guess that their performance is relatively the same. Hence, you may not notice a difference. In this case, where the source and the receiver have the same D/A component capability, I would send digital to the receiver and let the receiver do the work. This is purely due to signal path... once you convert to Analogue, you start suffering from (extremely minor and something I could personally never tell) degradation in signal as it travels through wires (i.e. your RCA audio cables for analogue connections). Of course, for DVD-A you have no choice. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
geekboy Silver Member Username: Geekboy Newport, RI United States Post Number: 281 Registered: Dec-03	Posted on Saturday, August 07, 2004 - 18:11 GMT Mike: this is kinda in defense of landroval. Take it as you may. As you can tell, landroval is very active on this forum. I kinda lurk and from time to time, jump in. His response was terse but as you read his full response, you see it reaches the same conclusion. Even my first response was terse, by my posting standards here. We can never guess as to what level of information a poster is looking for, so, generally, my initial responses -- as well -- are terse and sometimes blunt. I could just have easily been the one to post what landroval wrote... but I'm usually too wordy anyhow. You see, I'm already off on a rant.
Mike Bronze Member Username: Diplotocus Post Number: 19 Registered: Jul-04	Posted on Sunday, August 08, 2004 - 13:34 GMT OK, I was just testing him. I knew what he meant by his response didn't have a good feel for what he's all about yet. You're "OK" Iandroval ;)
John A. Gold Member Username: John_a Post Number: 1952 Registered: Dec-03	Posted on Sunday, August 08, 2004 - 18:00 GMT Mike, It depends on which digital medium you are using. What I would expect (and landroval is dead right; what you get is what matters): CD. No difference. But, using analogue out from the T533 (the players DAC) try to compare between the T773 analogue in marked "CD" and the one marked "Ext. 5.1/7.1". Dolby Digital AC-3. I have a T533 which does a much better job of decoding this that the AC-3 decoder in my (earlier) T760 reciever. You may not hear much difference, but it is worth investigating. DTS. The receiver. You have no choice. But it will be good. DVD-A and PCM stereo. The player: ditto. But it will be excellent. With my system, I use the T533 player and the "Ext. 5.1" input every time, with the exception of DTS, where the receiver needs a digital input on which to work. The other thing to remember is that EARS and Prologic work in the digital domain, so you would choose the digital connection to miss out an otherwise unnecessary A-to-D convertion in those cases. Excellent system, btw. And, yes, I agree with geekboy, landroval is one of the really constructive guys on this forum. Equally I can see why he instinctively chose to "shoot from the hip" in this case! I have a T533 and you might be interested in my high praise and a few detailed reservations on NAD T533 DVD/CD player user's review, and DVD-Audio. I have one DVD-A disc that refuses to play, and would not play on a demo T533 at the dealer's, either. Any comments most welcome. All the best.
landroval Silver Member Username: Landroval Post Number: 470 Registered: Feb-04	Posted on Sunday, August 08, 2004 - 20:24 GMT Here's some interesting discussion about DACs and things around them: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=431497 Thanks for support guys.
John A. Gold Member Username: John_a Post Number: 1957 Registered: Dec-03	Posted on Monday, August 09, 2004 - 05:07 GMT You are welcome, landroval.

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