CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

jbltecnicspro · Joined: 23 Apr 2016 Posts: 512

Last night I hooked up my Marantz DVD player to watch some Lord of the Rings with some friends. And holy cow - I forgot what a difference its superior audio capabilities provide! Dialog is clear as a bell, sound effects/separation and just overall realism is night and day compared to my run-of-the-mill Sony BDP.

So I got to thinking - instead of buying an expensive player for its audio capabilities - why not pump out sound to an external DAC?

Can anyone point me to an inexpensive 2-channel DAC that I can hook up? All I have is a Marantz integrated 2-channel amp, so I don't need surround capabilities.

I was thinking about getting this unit:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009346RSS/ref=asc_df_B009346RSS5024064/?tag=hyprod-20&creative=395033&creativeASIN=B009346RSS&linkCode=df0&hvadid=193992629021&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5516602098417084523&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9023535&hvtargid=pla-309645297780

cmjohnson · Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Posts: 5180 Location: Buried under G90s

I'd recommend an Audio Alchemy DAC. You can find good used ones on ebay. Very high quality, high performance units, most likely to be leagues above a 20 dollar box sold on Amazon.