Keith G wrote:

I've been getting clobbered on eBay on a string of DAC auctions lately and
suddenly had the thought to build summat rather than buy it!! What about a
'valve' DAC kit - anything come immediately to mind, before I start
trawling/surfing...??

You want a complete valve DAC? It would be the size of a house.
Or do you want one with thousands of transistors and a valve as an output
buffer to restore the fidelity?

--
Eiron

No good deed ever goes unpunished.

What about a 'valve' DAC kit - anything come immediately to mind,
before I start
trawling/surfing...??

I've discussed this with designer Chris Found - I use his latest DAC
but his earlier one is damn good too. His latest is over £500, and I
don't think he has any more of the earlier boards, though. He doesn't
much like the single bit DACs - he likes the Crystal chipsets CS4396,
97 and 98. I've heard others say the same - I think Arny does (I'm sure
he'll correct me if I'm wrong).
So I guess when on ebay include those processor numbers in the search
criteria. I'm waiting for a client, so have to be brief. I did look at
this in detail, so may come back later. Andy

Don't go the DVD route. If you want pure sound quality, stick to audio
circuitry only.

Rather consider a SACD player which will play CD's as well. In that
case, you will have to start buying SACD disks of course!



Luis Freitas wrote:
Hi all,

I'm in the market for a new CD player. Not willing to spend more than 500£,
what's your advice?

If there are some good options with price tag significantly lower than 500£,
they would be welcome.

Thanks in advance.

**********************************
Luís Freitas
E-mail:
Portugal

(When replying directly to my e-mail, please remove NOSPAM from the e-mail
address)

"Arnold" wrote in message
...
Don't go the DVD route. If you want pure sound quality, stick to audio
circuitry only.


???



Rather consider a SACD player which will play CD's as well. In that case,
you will have to start buying SACD disks of course!


Mind you don't get one that *doesn't* play CDRs....

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 5 Sep 2006 12:26:36 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:



I've been getting clobbered on eBay on a string of DAC auctions lately and
suddenly had the thought to build summat rather than buy it!! What about a
'valve' DAC kit - anything come immediately to mind, before I start
trawling/surfing...??


Given it a bit of thought, and you ought to be able to do that with
about thirty thousand ECC83s. And I wonder if Drax B is about to
appear on Ebay - none of the locals seem to want it. You will need it,
though.



No, I could run it from a wind farm - see other post....!! ;-)

"Andy Evans" wrote in message
ups.com...
What about a 'valve' DAC kit - anything come immediately to mind,
before I start
trawling/surfing...??

I've discussed this with designer Chris Found - I use his latest DAC
but his earlier one is damn good too. His latest is over £500, and I
don't think he has any more of the earlier boards, though. He doesn't
much like the single bit DACs - he likes the Crystal chipsets CS4396,
97 and 98. I've heard others say the same - I think Arny does (I'm sure
he'll correct me if I'm wrong).
So I guess when on ebay include those processor numbers in the search
criteria. I'm waiting for a client, so have to be brief. I did look at
this in detail, so may come back later. Andy



OK. I'm not sure if I want a 'DAC For All Time' or just summat simple and
cheap for my Tommy - 500 spons is a bit posh for 'TV sound'...!!

"Nick Gorham" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:
"Andy Evans" wrote in message
oups.com...
I think maybe you are still being a bit cash-happy at that price if
sound quality is the criterion. £50 to £70 should be more than
enough.
And it ought to handle DVDs too at that price. d

I agree with Don - cheap transport. But what I'd do is put the money
into a seperate DAC. I can't hear much if any difference between
different CD and DVD players as transports - I'm using a DVD player. I
think on this player the optical output is a twinge better than the
coax.
On the other hand I and others can hear differences between complete CD
players, which leads me to believe that it's the better DAC that gives
you the better sound. There are some interesting DAC boards on ebay if
you fancy putting one together. I compiled a list of available DAC kits
and modules. See below




Hey Andy - thanks for that list!

I've been getting clobbered on eBay on a string of DAC auctions lately
and suddenly had the thought to build summat rather than buy it!! What
about a 'valve' DAC kit - anything come immediately to mind, before I
start trawling/surfing...??




Have a look/ask on the WD forum, there are several that have built their
own, or used cheap suppliers.



Might well do - still have have trouble blundering about on that forum
tho'.....

Keith G wrote:

"Arnold" wrote in message
...

Don't go the DVD route. If you want pure sound quality, stick to audio
circuitry only.



???

Let me prove my point by quoting Marantz’s Ken Ishiwata from an
interview published by Hi-Fi News.
http://www.hifinews.co.uk/content/interview.html

"HFN: What is your feeling on surround-sound systems? Are people buying
music to hear on surround-sound systems?

KI: ‘The majority of people buying surround-sound is for home cinema,
but people buying home cinema receivers doesn’t always mean that they
buy home cinema speaker kits. Many people only end up with one pair
especially due to space and wiring – all those things are troublesome
for the consumer. How often do the majority of people watch films? They
listen to more music out of such a system than watching films. That’s
also the reason that in the last 18 months many people came back to
two-channel. Maybe you heard about it – the shift of product sales from
multi-channel to, gradually, two-channel is happening. So you’ve started
to see that the two-channel market is much stronger now, which is very
encouraging I have to say. Another point is because of the fact that all
of the American standard holders, like Dolby/DTS, always come up
something new all the time (which is not necessary) those people are
making money out of hardware companies so we have to have all those
logos on receivers and each logo represents how much we are paying
(laughs). The problem is because of those things we have to make
integrated circuits – they caused all those different standards.
Degrading the quality of the music is obvious. So, when you hear just a
simple, straightforward two-channel CD player and amp combination, which
is very low priced, compared to a mid-priced home cinema system playing
music there is no comparison. So, that’s what is happening. I think
people have started to realise what they had before, so they are coming
back’."


"The problem is because of those things we have to make
integrated circuits – they caused all those different standards.

Degrading the quality of the music is obvious."

So you will ask who is Ken Ishiwata?

KEN ISHIWATA’S CAREER
1968 • Came to Europe to work for Pioneer
Early 1970s • Left Pioneer and worked for the company that was military
market representative for Sony, Pioneer, Minolta and Canon.
1975 • Set up business as a fashion photographer
1978 • Joined Marantz as Technical Coordinator
1979 • Took additional job working in speaker development
1980 • Became involved in product development for total Marantz range
1986 • Appointed Marantz Senior Product Development Manager
1996 • Appointed Brand Ambassador for Marantz



Rather consider a SACD player which will play CD's as well. In that case,
you will have to start buying SACD disks of course!

Mind you don't get one that *doesn't* play CDRs....

Yes but you need the new format disks to get the full benefit.

"Arnold" wrote in message
...
Keith G wrote:

"Arnold" wrote in message
...

Don't go the DVD route. If you want pure sound quality, stick to audio
circuitry only.



???

Let me prove my point by quoting Marantz’s Ken Ishiwata from an interview
published by Hi-Fi News.
http://www.hifinews.co.uk/content/interview.html

"HFN: What is your feeling on surround-sound systems? Are people buying
music to hear on surround-sound systems?

KI: ‘The majority of people buying surround-sound is for home cinema,
but people buying home cinema receivers doesn’t always mean that they
buy home cinema speaker kits. Many people only end up with one pair
especially due to space and wiring – all those things are troublesome
for the consumer. How often do the majority of people watch films? They
listen to more music out of such a system than watching films. That’s
also the reason that in the last 18 months many people came back to
two-channel. Maybe you heard about it – the shift of product sales from
multi-channel to, gradually, two-channel is happening. So you’ve started
to see that the two-channel market is much stronger now, which is very
encouraging I have to say. Another point is because of the fact that all
of the American standard holders, like Dolby/DTS, always come up
something new all the time (which is not necessary) those people are
making money out of hardware companies so we have to have all those
logos on receivers and each logo represents how much we are paying
(laughs). The problem is because of those things we have to make
integrated circuits – they caused all those different standards.
Degrading the quality of the music is obvious. So, when you hear just a
simple, straightforward two-channel CD player and amp combination, which
is very low priced, compared to a mid-priced home cinema system playing
music there is no comparison. So, that’s what is happening. I think
people have started to realise what they had before, so they are coming
back’."


"The problem is because of those things we have to make
integrated circuits – they caused all those different standards.

Degrading the quality of the music is obvious."

So you will ask who is Ken Ishiwata?

KEN ISHIWATA’S CAREER
1968 • Came to Europe to work for Pioneer
Early 1970s • Left Pioneer and worked for the company that was military
market representative for Sony, Pioneer, Minolta and Canon.
1975 • Set up business as a fashion photographer
1978 • Joined Marantz as Technical Coordinator
1979 • Took additional job working in speaker development
1980 • Became involved in product development for total Marantz range
1986 • Appointed Marantz Senior Product Development Manager
1996 • Appointed Brand Ambassador for Marantz



Rather consider a SACD player which will play CD's as well. In that
case, you will have to start buying SACD disks of course!

Mind you don't get one that *doesn't* play CDRs....

Yes but you need the new format disks to get the full benefit.



This is a *wind-up* - right...??? :-)

Keith G wrote:

This is a *wind-up* - right...??? :-)

What do you mean by "wind-up"?