New Accuphase C-37 phono stage and DSD DAC

[TOGA]

http://www.accuphase.co.jp/cat/c-37.pdf

sorry in JP only for now.

Toga

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by TOGA

http://www.accuphase.co.jp/cat/c-37.pdf

sorry in JP only for now.

Toga

[Dave_72]

Originally Posted by TOGA

http://www.accuphase.co.jp/cat/c-37.pdf

sorry in JP only for now.

Toga

Thanks! Looks good.

[nvp]

Originally Posted by Mattia

Hi,regading the DC-37, do you think it will work in a "preampless" chain, correctly driving directly the power amp and regulating the volume digitally? I know that the AAVA is techincally superior, but a volume working at 32bit (or 40bit?) should have quite a bit of headroom to attenuate without loss a 16 or 24 bit signal, no?

My experience is that it depends on the amp that you have, i.e. the more transparent your amp is the better it will work. You can use your DP-510 cd player to get an idea on how good the Accuphase digital attenuators work. Hopefully the DC-37 DAC has an even better digital attenuator than the DP-510, e.g. similar to the digital attenuators in the DC-801 and DC-901 DACs which are very good.

As I have previously reported on this forum (and also on Audiogon.com), in my former Accuphase rig (i.e. A-45, C-2410 and DP-600), removing the C-2410 pre from the chain has yielded very decent but ultimately inferior results. On the other hand, connecting the DP-600 player directly to my A-65 amp sounded very very close to the A-65 & C-2410 & DP-600 rig and clearly superior to the A-45 & C-2410 & DP-600 rig. Arguable, in the A-65 & C-2410 & DP-600 rig the C-2410 preamp was a waste of money.

Originally Posted by Mattia

I know that Accuphase has stated in an interview that driving directly a power amp from a source (SACD or CD player and by extension a DAC like the DC-37) is not advisable, but then again, when you connect a DG-58 between preamplifier and power amplifier (situation that is among examples of connection in DG-58 brochure) is not the same thing?

Of course, they say that. They want to sell pre-amps.

[nvp]

Originally Posted by Mattia

Pre-ordered the DC-37

Matia, while I am not sure how much the DC-37 is (should cost between 8k and 9k euros), I am wondering whether it will not be better to try to sell you DP-510 unit and buy a DP-720 instead of the DC-37?

Compared to the DP-720, the DC-37 is more versatile, and I speculate that the DC-37 also has a superior power supply - the power supply in the DP-720 should be world class, though. One the other hand, the DP-720 has circuit boards made of teflon, a significantly better transport, dedicated connections for room correction processors, and it is also only one box.

[Mattia]

Compared to the DP-720, the DC-37 is more versatile

Exactly, and the problem is that I really don't listen to many SACD (in the very rare cases I do that, I now use an old Denon SACD), not because I don't like the support, but because most of the music I like simply doesn't come in this format. So I'd like to spare the price for the SACD transport part that I'll never use.

One option would be to renounce to the MiniDSP 22D + DC-37 solution and go directly for a DG-58 wich has the same good DAC (maybe a bit less sophisticated power supply), but to do that first I'd really like to compare the Accuphase correction vs the Dirac one.

[nvp]

I feel the DC-37 unit is more versatile than the DP-720 because it supports DSD files via USB. However, since you do not care much about the SACD format, and since you use only two digital sources (DP-510 and Oppo), I do not see any advantage of DC-37 over DP-720. Keep also in mind that DP-720, like DP-700, is a much much better CD player than DP-510 (many say the DP-510 is averaged for the money).

Finally, if you do not need a DAC with USB input, it is probably better to buy a DC-801 DAC. Chances are it is a much better DAC than the DC-37 (or the DP-720 for that matter), it also offers one balanced digital input plus it is cheaper (around 5-6k euros these days).

[Mattia]

Problem is to find a DC-801 to buy

[nvp]

They come up for sale quite often on the german audio markt site.

[meltemi]

http://www.accuphase.com/cat/c-37_e.pdf

C-37 brochure now in English.