Halo C1 DAC's and Transports together better ?

[misterdoggy]

Here's a new angle. Suppose one were to buy just a transport, quality transport that has no DA. considering the Halo C1 has quality DAC's why not just a transport to play Cd's and Dvd's ? Are there any downsides ?

I am considering a Ayre Transport that plays both CD and Dvd but it needs to have a processor. Isn't this the best way to go ?

Any help appreciated.

[Peter Nielsen]

Neat idea, but it would not let you play SACD/DVDA, since these formats cannot be transferred on the coax or toslink that the C1/C2 currently sports...

Peter

[DrJRapp]

Are there any downsides ?

Any help appreciated.

The major downside is having just one way to go. If you buy a player with quality DACs you always have the option of analog feed as well as digital.

[misterdoggy]

I don't care that much about SACD or DVD-a but do listen to CD HDCD and watch DVD 5.1.
The Ayre supports xlr output digital which I don't really understand. Can I use the XLR inputs with the Ayre ?
I'm a little lost here with Transports and how it would hook up ?

What good are analog feeds with the Halo anyhow except for SACD ?

[Peter Nielsen]

The Ayre supports xlr output digital which I don't really understand. Can I use the XLR inputs with the Ayre ?

The XLR digital output is probably an AES/EBU output. The C1/C2 only supports coaxial and optical S/PDIF.

Peter

[Andrew Pratt]

There are XLR to RCA adapters that you could use for the coaxial inputs on the Halo.

[Peter Nielsen]

There are XLR to RCA adapters that you could use for the coaxial inputs on the Halo.

Is AES/EBU compatible with S/PDIF ??

Peter

[Andrew Pratt]

No you'd be forced to use the coaxial inputs. There are converters that you can buy but if you're going to the expense of using a $$$ transport I'm not sure that's something you'd want to add inbetween the transport and the processor.

[misterdoggy]

No you'd be forced to use the coaxial inputs. There are converters that you can buy but if you're going to the expense of using a $$$ transport I'm not sure that's something you'd want to add inbetween the transport and the processor.

I bought it ! D-1 sold for $8500 new and picked it up for $2600. The guy is throwing in a top quality adaptor that changes xlr to rca. with such a short adaptor in good quality I would doubt it will lose anything at all as its literally a plug with xlr on one end and rca coming out the other. I spoke with parasound and he recommended using "direct" mode as it will pick up either Cd or 5.1 and I should be OK. Lets hope it works. I was toying with a Luxman Isaw on Audiogon for $3500 that sells for $8000 new and it sounded like a great unit but I couldn't find any reviews about it and found so many great ones on the Ayre that I went with that using the Halo's DAC's

[Peter Nielsen]

IThe guy is throwing in a top quality adaptor that changes xlr to rca.

For all I understand, you'll need a full-fledged AES/EBU to S/PDIF converter if you want to use the AES/EBU XLR output with your C1's S/PDIF RCA input. A simple XLR to RCA adapter won't work.

You need something like the MAudio CO3 ($175):

http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--THKMIMC30

Peter

[misterdoggy]

Peter,

I had Ayre on the phone and they think it should work no problem right away. Its coming tomorrow or monday so we will see. The guy who sold it also said it should work right away. Fingers crossed.!!

[kwojciec]

Hi

I think you will not be disappointed. It seems that you
have an excellent transport for CD and Halo should be able to
show the power of DAC. I did a different thing. I do have a decent
universal player (Yamaha S2300) which deals pretty well with multichannel
DVD-A and SACD. I bought myself used Dodson DAC for 2-channel music,
so I upgraded DAC even more. One of the main reason for that was
Sirius satellite radio. They have so many great channels and I want
to listen to all this PCM stereo music. Hope to hear more about Ayre
player from you

Krzysztof

[misterdoggy]

Hi

I bought myself used Dodson DAC for 2-channel music,
so I upgraded DAC even more. One of the main reason for that was
Sirius satellite radio. They have so many great channels and I want
to listen to all this PCM stereo music. Hope to hear more about Ayre
player from you

Krzysztof

Krzysztof,

I am curious about your DAC for 2 channel music. We have satellite TV here and its 2 channel digital via optic cable. Would what you have improve what I am receiving more ?

thanks
Bruce

[misterdoggy]

Well the Ayre D-1X transport has arrived. WOW is all I can say. I was living in the dark and now I see the light. The Halo C1 recognized the signal right off the bat and everything is up and running. The D-1X is a super machine with incredible photo image, detail, sharpness, color everything, then the audio portion was remarkable. The detail and clarity. I just hooked it up with a Cardas XLR/RCA adaptor and the C1 digital input. I did not have to assign anything to the source mode and no matter what I assign the source mode it automatically selects the best mode. For CD's the C1 selects automically "Stereo" and for DVD's it selects 5.1. NO sweat AOK and the Halos DAC's perform outstanding.

[kwojciec]

Dodson DAC

Hi

I apologize for the delay, but I have just returned from vacations. My
satellite receiver has only one optical output (standard HD receiver
from DISH Network), which has to be connected to my C2. I use C2
optical output to connect it with Dodson 217. I also use coaxial output
in my universal player (Yamaha S2300) to transport sound to Dodson.
This way I can use
C2 to decode DD and DTS and process DLPIIx and DTS Neo6. I use Dodson
to listen to music from Sirius radio. Dodson decodes anything in stereo PCM.
It also has balanced outputs which I run to balanced inputs of C2 in
order to use C2 as a preamplifier in bypassing mode. This set up works fine.
I have upgraded to C2 (from Rotel 1066) about half a year ago and
I am pretty happy with C2 working as a processor and a preamp. I will
submit the piece I wrote about that later. I really liked Stereo 96 mode
for my (older) Cds, so I started to think how to upgrade 2-channel stereo.
I was unsure if I want a DAC or a player, but I thought about a satellite
radio and decided to try Dodson. The initial improvement in the sound
was noticable, but it did not seem to be that huge. However, eventually
it grow on me. Now, when I switch from Dodson to C2 sound
becomes compressed and it takes time to use to it. On top of that I have
two friends who are into vinyl, but they like to listen to my system,
though mostly multichannel stuff an movies. They both are pretty
impressed and claim that this was great move that I made requiring
Dodson. I still think that C2 is a great processor, but I am really happy
with my music now. A good multichannel mix is really something (like
SACD version of "Brother in Arms"), but it has to be well done. As I have
my system now I definitely prefer CD processed by Dodson over
2 channel SACD. Now if I only could have your transport.
I am happy to see that it sounds so good. Enjoy

best

Krzysztof

[Chris D]

misterdoggy, you never got a banana for your new DVD player. :banana: Congrats! That's quite a beast.

[misterdoggy]

misterdoggy, you never got a banana for your new DVD player. :banana: Congrats! That's quite a beast.

Chris,

Thanks for the banana. I love it. I love it. I've just sent it to get upgraded from a d-1 to d-1xe. It still is just a transport, but what a transport.

I've ordered a goldmund Digin DAC as the D-1XE has 2 digital outputs. The PCM will go to the Goldmund DAC then into the bipass of the C1.

While the DVD stuff will go to the digital coax input on the C1.

Since the goldmund is just for pure stereo the DAC's are superior and I'll let you know after I hear it if I like what the difference is.

I can do an A/B test switching the sources in the C1. :T

[Blazar]

transports are a waste of money.

use a computer hard drive to store all your CD's in a non-lossy format like Flac or the original wav file. Copy the cd's using a program called Exact Audio Copy (EAC).

A hard drive is superior to a cd transport in every conceivable way and allows easy backups. Just be sure you get a silent hard drive brand like seagate or samsung and put it inside an additional hard drive enclosure for silence.

output from the computer using optical output to a nice dac like a Benchmark DAC1 and then to the pre-amp or direct to the amp.

You are unlikely to beat a benchmark dac1 or Apogee mini-dac regardless of price.