Rotel RSX-1056 DAC

[fordster]

Hi folks, this is my first post on this forum. Just a quick question on how good the DACs are on a Rotel RSX-1056. Could they be used instead of the DAC on a DVD or CD player. The reason I ask is that I don't haev room for an AV and HiFi set up in the same room but music quality is important to me. I was thinking that if I got an RSX-1056 I could maybe use the onboard DAC and feed the signal digitally from DVD player instead of using analogue. How good would the sound quality be? At present I have a Denon DVD2800MKII DVD player which is not bad for CD replay but is nowhere near as good as the RCD02 I have on my "proper" HiFi in another room. Would using the RSX0156 DAC get anywhere near to this?

Or, failing that, how good is an RDV-1060 at CD replay? Again, how does it compare to an RCD02.

Thanks in advance

[phuz]

I'll give the short answer.

Yes, I think using your Denon as a transport and the 1056 to decode would be a nice improvement.

I've personaly gone back and forth between internal DACs on my RCD-1070 and other components and the DACs in the 1056, and I was impressed with the 1056 as a decoder.

Not sure what type of DACs the 1056 has, but I'm sure they are up there with other Rotel pieces.

[audiofan]

side question:

I was wondering if the DAC in Denon avr-3805 is as good as the DAC in rsx-1056.? Has anyone had a chance to compare this?

thanks.

[fordster]

Sadly my Denon player has just died on me! So now I need a new DVD player. I can't afford to buy both now (can't afford either if I'm honest!) but I'll do some testing when I demo DVD players. I'll get them to hook the DVD player up on coax and then compare that to an RCD02 on analogue and see how much of a difference there is.

[stantheman2]

I have a Denon DVD-2200 player and a Rotel 1056. I have flipped back and forth between using the Denon's DACs and the Rotel's DACs for CD playback and I hear the following:

Denon DAC: smoother, slightly more laid-back.

Rotel 1056 DAC: More forward, seemingly more detail, but more "edgy" - more "glare", to use a term people used when describing early CD sound.

[basementjack]

AudioFan -

I auditioned a 3805 at home and decided instead on the rotel, thought it sounded better, with a deeper soundstage. I had used a digital connection from my cd player for all the auditions.

Like another posted, the denon, which uses burr brown decoders, has a sound that is opposite of the rotel,

The denon has a warmer sound. the rotel has a thiner sound.

I believe the denon's freq response boosts the lower to mid frequencies making the denon have a fuller sound.
The Rotel sounds the opposite, the lower mids almost seem harder to hear, and you feel less low frequency from the rotel, as a result differnt things are easier to hear on the differnt products, many say female vocals are easier to understand on the rotel, and some prefer the denon.

I would avoid the 3805 for music (not bad for movies)
The 1056 can be a good start to a nice high end system, and if you happen to have a Denon CD or DVD player then you might like some music played via analog (using the Denon's dacs) or digital (using the 1056's dacs) it's easy to set this up - you can assign Video 1 to DVD coax or optical in, and assign another input to analog in (like the CD) and route the analog to that (and if memory serves, you can have the CD pick up video component input one so you can still see the menus)