Choosingwhich DAC to use?

[Julz666]

Hi there, hopefully my question isn't too laughable...

I'm waiting on the arrival of a new Blu-ray player, A Sony UBP-X1100ES - http://www.sonypremiumhome.com/4K-Blu-ray/UBPX1100ES.php

solely for playing Blu-ray and DVD audio discs, I'll be running that through a NAD M32 - https://nadelectronics.com/product/m32-directdigital-amplifier/

Can anyone give me advice on which unit's DAC I should be using?
I realise most people would just tell me to listen to both but I'd really like some more experienced opinions on the matter?

Thanks heaps in advance

Julz

[PeterG]

I have not heard either, but I would be surprised if the Sony had a better DAC than the NAD

[Julz666]

Yeah, I think it seems likely that would be the case too.
Thanks

[Allan F]

On 10/4/2021 at 1:43 AM, Julz666 said:

I realise most people would just tell me to listen to both but I'd really like some more experienced opinions on the matter?

 

IMO, you would probably be better served by listening to both and selecting the option that you prefer, as opposed to being influenced by the opinion of others and the possible introduction of expectation bias.

[Julz666]

Hi, yeah you're probably spot on.
Thanks

[davide256]

I wasn't impressed with the audio section of a Sony XBP700, an Oppo103 was much better playing audio for same blue ray disc. If you go straight coax out to NAD

you may run into copyright sample rate limitations from the blue ray player.  Going HDMI to TV and coax/toslink from it to NAD may get you 192 vs 48k rates.

[ecwl]

For @Julz666, the bigger issue I think is that M32 is a digital amplifier design. So I think when you feed it with analog signal, it'll convert it using the NAD ADC, do the appropriate software volume control in digital, and then send it to M32's internal DAC and then to the amplifier.

 

Hence, to me, as long as you're playing through the M32, whether you're using the Sony DAC or not, you're getting the M32 DAC. You're either getting the M32 DAC directly or you're getting Sony DAC fed to the NAD M32 ADC, digital volume control then M32 DAC. 

 

So yeah, I would just go digital into M32 and bypass the Sony DAC, if I were you.

 

That said, you might like the more convoluted signal pathway from the Sony DAC sound. So you should still choose to listen to whatever sounds best to you.