advertisement


Why are there no CD transports with USB out?

marshanp

ellipsis addict
Or am I mistaken?

The ideal CD transport would have throughput for a second USB source, so that I would never need to switch sources at my DAC. And a great big buffer.

And would be programmable to play only the tracks I want to hear. With no gaps.

Too much to ask, apparently... but why?

Oh, and please don't mention the Schiit Urd, which (if it ever actually appears) will only work with Schiit DACs.
 
Last edited:
Use the coax out to your DAC.
Why is it easier to change inputs on your cd player/transport than on your DAC?

EDIT:
My Line Magnetic 502CA has 5 digital inputs (XLR, COAX-RCA, COAX-BNC, Optical, USB).
It "only" works up to 32/192.
 
None of which addresses the question...

Do manufacturers find it too difficult to provide USB out from a CD transport? Too expensive?
 
You suddenly need a micro running a USB stack and it needs to be able to cope with anything the user might reasonably plug in without loading any drivers. It could obviously be done, but presumably it's not (yet) seen as a big enough market. It's only relatively recently that USB is no longer seen as the poor relation to SPDIF.
 
None of which addresses the question...

Do manufacturers find it too difficult to provide USB out from a CD transport? Too expensive?

Writing suitable software to be compliant is the tricky part, and you are much better off (as a manufacturer) using something like embedded linux, so at that point, your 'transport with USB out' is essentially a raspberry pi running linux with a CD drive attached, and that's probably not quite what you had in mind. If you see a product with decent USB support, chances are this is how it works.
 
Or am I mistaken?

The ideal CD transport would have throughput for a second USB source, so that I would never need to switch sources at my DAC. And a great big buffer.

And would be programmable to play only the tracks I want to hear. With no gaps.

Too much to ask, apparently... but why?

Oh, and please don't mention the Schiit Urd, which (if it ever actually appears) will only work with Schiit DACs.

I connect an external DVD player to my Raspberry Pi, which also has Volumio on it, and an SPDIF out HAT / portable SSD for streaming to the DAC, CD playback and ripping. Ticks all the boxes in having three sources to one DAC input, gapless playback, configurable buffering etc.

The problem with a USB output, is that you need a computer somewhere, which typical CD transports don’t have. They will instead have dedicated USB front ends i.e. inputs using dedicated chips like XMOS.
 
The main reason I suspect, it a major lack of demand for it. It is of course technically possible, but how many people would buy a CD transport specifically because it has a USB output? Not many.
 
I agree with the main response here (requires adding a computer to the device, so probably not worth it) but, just to point out, for better or for worse there are turntables with USB out, so it's not entirely unusual to imagine that a CD player might have it too.
 
I agree with the main response here (requires adding a computer to the device, so probably not worth it) but, just to point out, for better or for worse there are turntables with USB out, so it's not entirely unusual to imagine that a CD player might have it too.
Those have a specific purpose, ripping vinyl to MP3/FLAC, not sure they’d work with a USB DAC. CDs can be ripped using a CD/DVD ROM drive, no need for a CD transport playing in real time for that job.
 
Coming soon, the Schiit Urd, which will be a CD player with USB output.
Details are thin on the ground on that, but it looks to be computer based, a streaming head with a CD ROM drive and software built in for it to act as a CD transport playing discs in real time… an interesting product if/when it materialises.
 


advertisement


Back
Top