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Expensive CD transport vs cheap DVD player

I don't have a lot of experience, but can say that my Cambridge CXC doesn't sound as good into the same DAC as the Jay's Audio CDT2 mk3 did. Why this should be is a good question, but the difference was clear to hear, and slightly disappointing as I don't listen to enough CDs to justify keeping the CDT2. So I sold it. The CXC is decent, but clearly transports DO make a difference. But not as much as the difference between speakers or analogue front ends do.
 
JTC said:
I don't have a lot of experience, but can say that my Cambridge CXC doesn't sound as good into the same DAC as the Jay's Audio CDT2 mk3 did. Why this should be is a good question, but the difference was clear to hear, and slightly disappointing as I don't listen to enough CDs to justify keeping the CDT2. So I sold it. The CXC is decent, but clearly transports DO make a difference. But not as much as the difference between speakers or analogue front ends do.
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Have you tried the 3 mods available for virtually nothing on the cxc? I done them,and it was already just ahead of my streaming setup,but now seems way better,obviously all could be in my head etc but for a tenner I’ll take that placebo happily.
 
Leeken said:
Have you tried the 3 mods available for virtually nothing on the cxc? I done them,and it was already just ahead of my streaming setup,but now seems way better,obviously all could be in my head etc but for a tenner I’ll take that placebo happily.
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I believe my CXC has them already (I bought it from someone here)
 
Dowser said:
I hear differences between transports - my current favourite is a vintage Micromega Duo 2
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I had a Duo and it walked all over every other CD player/transport I tried. I didn't compare it to the CD94 as a transport though as I never had both at the same time. That's the only player I've owned that I think could have given it a run for it's money.
 
lawrence001 said:
I had a Duo and it walked all over every other CD player/transport I tried. I didn't compare it to the CD94 as a transport though as I never had both at the same time. That's the only player I've owned that I think could have given it a run for it's money.
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I've got a Micromega Leader II that I've had for many years and still sounds great - either as a stand-alone CD player or with an external DAC.
 
Bronzeage said:
For a laugh, I hooked up my old Pioneer DVD player into my dac. Damn!
Sounds way better than my Bluesound streamer. Confused, but glad I still kept my CDs. Must find a better way to stream …
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I have a Node N130 as well as an Audiolab 6000CDT going into the same DAC (a Gustard R26 with U18 D2D/external clock).
There are tweaks that can be done to make BOTH sound better. The 6000CDT sounded a bit thin when I had an Amazon basic RCA coax and placed on a thin glass shelf.
But replacing the coax with a silver one, getting a custom 10mm glass shelf cut and then putting the CDT on Herbie Tenderfeet all improved the performance of the CDT into the Gustard, where it is now a bit more precise sounding than the Node.

The streaming quality of the Node also took a sharp tick upwards when its internal SMPS was replaced by a DC interface board and a big honking 5V linear power supply.

But these additional tweaks to the Node brings its cost to be 3x the cost of the 6000CDT with the few additional tweaks.

Remember when playing CDs was so much more convenient than vinyl, or especially cassettes. Well, now CD playback seems clunky and restricted compared to streaming.

Yes, there are streamers that allegedly (greatly) outperform even a top notch CDT...but they cost upwards of $10k.

I have heard a $15k streamer vs a $30k streamer in the same system, and there was something special that the latter did that was missing on the 'only' $15k one.
 
I tried a few cheap transports years ago.The best was a Cambridge universal player(DVD99) but non were better than my Apollo. They appeared bright and a little brittle in sound compared to my Rega. Interesting experiment though.
 
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sq225917 said:
As long as the signal from the transport is within spec the dac shouldn't care less.
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However, this thread seems to hinge on the difference between the engineering and audiophile worlds.

In the engineering world a designer will read the S/PDIF standard (IEC 60958) and think "yes, I can design a DAC that will perform identically with all transports that meet this specification".

In the audiophile world there seems to be an expectation or even a desire that either the transport cannot or doesn't meet the standard, or that the DAC cannot or doesn't handle what the standard says it should. Or that you need to spend a lot of money to meet the standard.

The contradiction is strange to me. I have been into music reproduction at home since before I started out in the research and engineering business. I have spent a long time in both worlds. The customers for my engineering work would have been horrified if, given the existence of the S/PDIF standard, substituting either side of the interface with conformant equipment made a difference. In the audiophile world a difference seems to be expected and welcomed.

So ISTM it's a case of choose your world and by all means discuss it, and be tolerant of others who choose and discuss the other.
 
Salamander said:
And?
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And what?
A 'good' DAC is able to filter the incoming noise when S/PDIF copper is used and to re-clock the incoming data. If the CDs are in good condition any transport will be able to read them faultlessly and as long as the S/PDIF transmitter interface works as expected there should be very little to no difference between transports.
Of course some DACs don't have properly implemented noise and jitter rejection, particularly older DACs from the '90s and '00s.

Assuming you're using a decent or expensive power cable. :cool:
 
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