I have a Simaudio Moon Nova CD player that I modded with Blackgate caps, OPA2604 (I think those are it) op amps, FRED diodes etc. (but no clock mods)and I was (am?) very satisfied with it.
In the never-ending quest to improve upon it, I wanted to try an external DAC.
Now, I went a got a Perpetual Technologies P3A (with Modwright mods) and P1A along with the Monolithic Sound P3 power supply to see if I could do any better soundwise.
The result of using that was less (WAY less) than I expected. I tried all manner of combinations too. The P1A didn't really offer anything significant (I was hoping they would roll out the equalization option for any speaker but that never really happened). and continued to try out the P3 without it in the hope that the P1A was the problem... wishful thinking!
The P3A(Modwright modded) with the P3 ps actually detracted from the sound. It was either the same or lost something. It almost seemed more compressed. Again, I tried all manner of combinations of settings so I determined it was not within the capability of the P3A to improve.
Now, I like the Nova CD player a lot and think with the mods it is a great value play (used of course). But I don't think it is the last word in cd players and was hoping to see an improvement (even a slight one) with the zooted out P3A. Instead it had a negative effect.
Have I reached the point where I would have to take a HUGE step up
to see a significant improvement?
Was the P3A just the wrong DAC? Would the Benchmark DAC or ABel Canto DAC3 be any better or, like I said before, do I have to spend a whole lot more??
TIA