My most natural sounding DAC is inside a 1989 Radioshack / Memorex CD player.

[JasonM]

Many many years ago back in 1989 (I was 16) I purchased a CD player from Tandy, it was £200 reduced from £270, I remember handing the sales person the cash and he could hardly believe someone my age could afford it.

The player is a Memorex CD-6000, also called Radioshack CD-6000 in US, and I've kept this player all these years. I always thought the player was quite good as I also owned quite a good separates tape deck, back in the day I use to copy CD's for people to tape (this is before CD writers) and people always commented how good the recording were.

Anyway i'll cut to the chase. In my house I own some DAC/Amps also various other CD players including Pioneer and Technics, also Asus Essence ST and Creative Titanium HD sound cards. None of these digital sources sound as natural as the Memorex purchased all those years ago.

How to describe the sound, it's like it's unprocessed with no hard edges, yet all the sound is there and it's very relaxing to listen to, the sound is not colored it's just as you expect it left the studio.

I would love to find a DAC that produced a similar sound to how this old Memorex CD player does. Has anyone here have experience of natural sounding DAC's?

Also has anyone had any experience in changing the Op-Amps on an Asus Essence ST, as apparently this can produce a similar effect.

Edit. Just read this post back to myself and realise it was a slightly random thing to post, I was really trying to open a discussion on soft sounding DAC's

 

[JasonM]

Yes there are more natural sound dac/players/streamers. Typically they cost more and are of UK/European origin. So people will tell you all digital is the same and not worth spending a small fortune on. I'd guess the problems is here " including Pioneer and Technics, also Asus Essence ST and Creative Titanium HD sound cards" maybe these are all low cost all on one chip solutions that are all much the same.

The DAC inside the Essence ST is apparently used in some quite high end CD players, the issue is more I find most digital sources a little hard edged.

Apparently in the early days of CD players there were some that produced soft / natural sound, apparently some of the early Sony's do this. If I look at the board inside my Memorex CD 6000 it's not even surface mount but maybe this is helping more the natural sound.

I keep looking at external DAC's but it's a question of what to buy, if you look at reviews even some of the expensive DAC's there is no guarantee of having the sound you want. I think a new business idea is a company should lend someone 10 DAC's for the week, then you buy the one you like best.

The best source I ever heard in my house was a Pioneer PL 570 turntable produced in 1979, I borrowed this for a week. I was playing some Beatles records that were pressed in the 1960's and the sound was amazing from it, totally organic sound. Unfortunately those vintage PL 570's go for around £700 on eBay.

 

[JasonM]

Could you find out what the DAC is inside the Memorex CD player and look for another solution which integrates that chipset? I appreciate that they're not always directly comparable as there are a lot of other components inside, but it's a start.

Someone did take some pictures of the inside of theres. The DAC inside the Memorex is a single Burr Brown PCM54HP.

https://www.audiovintage.fr/leforum/viewtopic.php?t=57673

Just had a quick search on the PCM54HP and came across this thread where someone picked up a Audio Dynamics CD-1000E for $15 that also uses the the same DAC and he's also writing how surprised he is about sound quality.

http://www.tapeheads.net/archive/index.php/t-17639.html

Someone also here discussing Burr Brown DAC's, and he's sounding similar to what I was thinking.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/why-do-i-always-like-a-source-with-burr-brown-dac

That means it’s best to go to a dealer and listen rather than try and compare online.

I kind of agree, however I think you need to listen in the home connected to your own equipment to really know if you like something. Also sometimes you can be tricked to thinking something is better and you have to sleep, then listen the next day to confirm you like it.