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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 2, 2018 16:19:15 GMT
First tried this some months ago, courtesy of Tony Fluxedintime of this parish.
It beats my Rega Isis CD player, but I couldn't justify the price tag, then £15,000.
Isis is around £6500 new these days and the law of diminishing returns seems to kick in hard.
However....
This little (!) box started life as the TAD DA1000 DAC. A £12,000 DAC !!!
TAD added in the CD player later on, making the price then I believe £14,000.
£2000 for the excellent CD player then.
Tony recently brought another D1000 in for me to play with in my changed system.
It sounded a bit better than before but still £15,000.
However...
There is also a Pre Amp function built in.
3 boxes compressed into one can't be good can it ?
Well yes, to my surprise.
Taking my excellent Belles Pre Amp out and using the Pre from the D1000 improved the sound quality.
I'm still puzzled but my ears did not lie.
Rejig of brain
£15,000 buys a super DAC, top Pre Amp and top CD player. Plus there is only one box.
Useful for someone for sure.
My brain is still adjusting to this new outlook
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 2, 2018 16:39:08 GMT
Very interesting Mike - was it the MK2 you heard?
It's very much an investment in cd as a medium - I guess one would need to be totally committed to being a long-term user for this to be worthwhile.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 2, 2018 17:24:28 GMT
Jules' point exactly. If you want to invest in CD then you could get a lot of cost back by selling your Isis player and Belles preamp.
Consider carefully, it's a high ticket price item. It would surely be your last CD player.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 2, 2018 19:16:22 GMT
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Post by MartinT on Oct 2, 2018 19:29:44 GMT
You could use the Tascam to convert analogue to DSD which suits analogue conversion better.
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Post by julesd68 on Oct 3, 2018 8:38:06 GMT
Mike, have you decided if and how streaming or files are going to fit into your system in the future?
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Post by Stratmangler on Oct 3, 2018 9:03:33 GMT
You could use the Tascam to convert analogue to DSD which suits analogue conversion better. Why does it suit analogue conversion better? How do you justify the statement?
It will do a superb job of capturing material using PCM at whichever bit depth and sample rate you choose.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 3, 2018 9:05:26 GMT
It should be as easy as Pi/DigiOne -> TAD.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 3, 2018 9:09:54 GMT
Why does it suit analogue conversion better? If you look at the DSD coding, it virtually represents the analogue waveform in a digital format, rather than codified numerics, meaning that conversion back should involve much less circuitry than PCM. Of course, it really depends on the analogue -> DSD conversion quality but I'm assuming the Tascam will do it well.  |
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 3, 2018 10:28:40 GMT
You could use the Tascam to convert analogue to DSD which suits analogue conversion better. Yes. This is a new way of looking at a system I am taking on board. Most of my playing is via CD, but I must be able to take analogue |
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 3, 2018 10:30:35 GMT
Mike, have you decided if and how streaming or files are going to fit into your system in the future? Nope.  Still getting used to the Brave New World. I still remember first hearing CD. It was utterly horrible. Takes a lot to wash it away. |
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 3, 2018 10:32:00 GMT
It should be as easy as Pi/DigiOne -> TAD. from Phono Pre amp or a tape deck ? |
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Post by MartinT on Oct 3, 2018 10:46:04 GMT
It should be as easy as Pi/DigiOne -> TAD. from Phono Pre amp or a tape deck ? Huh? S/PDIF into either co-ax or optical input. |
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 3, 2018 11:21:08 GMT
from Phono Pre amp or a tape deck ? Huh? S/PDIF into either co-ax or optical input. Lost Phono Pre or Tape deck won't go to a Pi will it ? |
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Post by MartinT on Oct 3, 2018 11:59:17 GMT
You're going to have to use complete sentences, Mike, as I have no idea what phono or tape have to do with a Pi.
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Post by Stratmangler on Oct 3, 2018 12:39:07 GMT
I think Mike is trying to work out some way of converting an analogue signal into a digital one to feed a TAD DAC.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 3, 2018 12:48:38 GMT
Ah, ok. Mike, the Pi with DigiOne feeds digital S/PDIF out. Since the TAD should accept that into its DAC (provided it has a co-ax S/PDIF input), that's all you would need.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 3, 2018 14:06:24 GMT
Current set up is analogue.
CD, Tivo, TV via RCA, Caiman, tape decks, Phono Pre
The TAD as a Pre Amp only takes digital input
The Tascam is a way to take analogue input and output that to a digital Pre Amp.
Don't want another box but...
TV will probably output digital, ok there and Tivo could go via TV
Oddly enough the SMSL Q5 has an analogue input via jack.
That's interesting
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Post by MartinT on Oct 3, 2018 14:34:14 GMT
So...
You feed analogue outputs into Tascam inputs
Digital outputs and Tascam digital output go to the TAD
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Post by MikeMusic on Dec 18, 2018 17:08:55 GMT
Okeydokey
A second user TAD D1000 has been playing for a few days now.
Putting the RTZ grounding box improved the system sound as was by some margin.
Nothing else changed, apart from adding more connections to the RTZ
Previously the TAD was better than the Isis but not by enough to justify the cost difference.
Being very non scientific I am trying out different mains cables into Mains conditioner and TAD.
There is quite an improvement - at a cost - which I am evaluating.
As this TAD has been lightly used, it and the cables are improving, so I am chasing the goalposts down the field.
Quite a nice task.
Everything sounds better. Different albums are showing what detail they have, others the bass, others so much.
The TAD is being used as CD player, DAC and Pre Amp now, direct into TAD power amp
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