"Wally" wrote in message
...
just me wrote:

In fact, my choice would be to look for an Arcam Black Box 500 which
you should be able to pick up for £200. Leaving aside the flexible
connectivity (which you might never use) it sounds bloody marvellous.
I use it with DAB & MD and soon Freeview, although not with CD
(prefer the sound of the 8000CD's in-built DAC, but that wont really
be an issue for you). I would also keep an eye out for the Alchemist
TS-D1 or TS-D2. The latter, in particular, was a terrific upgrade and
they are both quite compact.

Duly noted for the short list / price check.

How good, or not, is DAB through the external DAC?

It's a comparative thing. The DAC on my DAB tuner (Sony STD777es) sounds
inferior then when compared with the sound whilst connected through the DAC
of the Arcam Black Box 500. I would assume that lesser DAB tuners would also
benefit in this manner. Yes the bitrate of the transmission has a large
bearing on the sound, but then so does the DAC. When I buy a new Freeview
box with digital output next month I should benefit from the superior
bitrates seemingly available via this platform with some broadcasts.

Hence, I don't use the external DAC with my CD player which, to my ears, has
a superior DAC built-in.

Now say 100 times:
"My dapper Dad's damn DAB DAC doesn't do DAT justice."