DAC or not?

[Peter Gilbert]

I have been considering whether to buy a separate DAC to connect to my B2. I am currently playing the B2 via a good quality Denon amp through a pair of Dali Opticon 6s but the sound is not quite as good as from the original CDs.

I am just wondering if anyone else has opted for a separate DAC and found it worthwhile and worth the extra expenditure?

Peter

[Chris Jones]

Hi I went down the DAC route and the difference is just amazing and you don't need to spend a lot either. I first purchased a cheep DAC from Amazon £14.00 and a decent optical connector

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005HFTUO0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1  I was amazed how good it was considering the price (I powered  it off one of the B2 usb ports) so it was nice and compact

I then upgraded to https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074GPV4FP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1  £68.00 as I wanted to be able to use my  headphone as QUAD amp doesn't have a headphone output. another great thing about this DAC is it supports 24bit 96k Hi-Res audio (I have a few Hi-Res Flac files on my B2 and they sound pretty good, I was originally under the impression that the B2 did not support this format so maybe the B2 is converting the files on the fly)

You won't regret  going down the DAC route

Hope this helps

Chris

[nicbw...@gmail.com]

Hello,

I also went down the DAC route (mainly because my Cyrus 6DAC amp has one built in). I use an Audioquest optical cable and B&W speakers and am very happy with the sound quality of the ripped FLAC files

Regards,

Nic

[Davywhizz]

I send the B2 signal optically to my Marantz hifi and its DAC does the job. I'm curious, though, why the internal Brennan DAC might not be good enough if I just wanted to attach speakers to the B2.

[David Richards]

I don't want to get into relative quality arguments, but It's not just the DAC, It's the DAC plus power amp.

DR.

[Daniel Taylor]

On Monday, August 10, 2020 at 11:22:35 AM UTC-4, Chris Jones wrote:

another great thing about this DAC is it supports 24bit 96k Hi-Res audio (I have a few Hi-Res Flac files on my B2 and they sound pretty good, I was originally under the impression that the B2 did not support this format so maybe the B2 is converting the files on the fly)

The B2 downconverts everything to 16 bit 44.1 kHz.  So the hi res ability of your DAC is of no advantage.

[Daniel Taylor]

On Monday, August 10, 2020 at 2:27:24 PM UTC-4, Davywhizz wrote:

I'm curious, though, why the internal Brennan DAC might not be good enough if I just wanted to attach speakers to the B2.

Althought the B2's internal DAC may not be the best, it's my opinion that the reason the sound of directly driven speakers is somewhat lacking is the quality of the B2's internal amplifier.  So, as many of us have discovered, for best sound, use an external DAC and avoid the B2's internal DAC and amp.

[Les Stanley]

Yes go for the DAC. I've had one for a few years, a Micromega, which I bought second hand about 15 years ago and I've used it with CD players, MiniDisc players and now the B2. Makes a huge difference especially if you also have a decent amp and speakers.

[marcus]

Am Montag, 10. August 2020 20:40:56 UTC+2 schrieb Daniel Taylor:

Althought the B2's internal DAC may not be the best, it's my opinion that the reason the sound of directly driven speakers is somewhat lacking is the quality of the B2's internal amplifier.

i can confirm a difference between an external amp fed by the analog out of the B2 and a DAC between digital out of my B2 and the amp but not as significant as expected.  i never tried the speakers directly attached to the B2 - they just don't fit the specs as i remember.

ober!schöne grüße,

marcus.