To Doug Schneider,
I own a Simaudio Moon i-1 integrated amplifier, Moon CD-1 disc player, and a budget-but-decent Sony BDP-S370 Blu-ray player (2010 vintage) that also plays SACDs.
I have been considering purchasing a separate DAC to elevate the sound quality from this Sony Blu-ray player in order to better enjoy SACDs and the higher-resolution (uncompressed) stereo tracks from various concert Blu-ray Discs. (This Sony Blu-ray is equipped with an optical digital output.)
GoodSound! has a very positive review (June 2010) of the Simaudio Moon 300D DAC and other publications have given favourable reviews to the less-expensive Moon 100D.
Here is my question: If I were also to drive the Moon 300D DAC with my Moon CD-1 transport, will the 300D provide an appreciable improvement over the Moon CD-1's onboard DAC? (The CD-1 is equipped with a coaxial digital output.)
Sincerely,
Ron
Canada’s Simaudio has made quite a name for itself in recent years by producing well-regarded CD players and DACs, but we have no idea if the 300D external DAC will show a marked improvement over the DAC that is already in the CD-1 -- none of our reviewers has made that comparison. You should know that even though the 300D is capable of decoding PCM music files up to 24-bit/192kHz resolution, your CD-1’s transport can only read CDs, so you will be limited to standard 16-bit/44.1kHz playback if you use the CD-1 and 300D today. The 300D will also not play back DSD files, which is the file format that SACD is based on, even if you connect it to your Blu-ray player (very few DACs do). The 300D will allow you to stream higher-resolution PCM music files from a computer source, but only if you’re able to connect to its S/PDIF coaxial or TosLink inputs, since its USB input only supports 16-bit/48kHz resolution. Obviously, that’s a lot of information to digest, but I hope that what I’ve explained helps you to make a decision. . . . Doug Schneider
