CD transport importance

[Phil Y]

Hello all,

What does anyone think about this?
Obviously (I assume) a better transport will sound better, but how much. All the attention seems to be on DACs but there rarely seems to be any discussion about how much difference a transport can make. Is this because the answer is "not very much"?

Does anyone have some experience to share?

Regards, Phil.

[Richard]

Hi Phil,

My DAC has 2 remote select-able coax digital inputs so I have a CD player feeding one and Squeezebox Touch into the other using similar cables.

The DAC analogue output then feeds the preamp.

This means I can (and have) compared the CDp digital output playing a disc into the DAC and Squeezebox playing the same digital file (over wifi from the FLAC library on a PC) into the DAC.

The music can be sync'd, then then switching between both is instant and the DAC is the same unit for both sources so a comparison can be made.

(Two CD transports could also be compared this way but I only have one CDp with digital out.)

Anyway, bottom line is I've compared many albums (all my CDs are now in FLAC) and cannot tell a difference between these 2 sources.

I suppose there could be a difference between 2 transports if, say, one wasn't reading as well as the other etc but in my case it seems to show the CDp is working as well as the Squeezebox as a source for the digital stream

[John Caswell]

Hi Phil/Richard,
The digital info comes out of the transport as SPDIF and then the DAC processes it into analogue.
I suppose that if the transport mechanics are improved, then there "may" be a difference, but as the info is reclocked before exiting as SPDIF it would seem to me to be somewhat academic.
I would guess that if the servo mechanism that drives/controls the disc rotation speed has less work to do (eg if your CD is eccentric) then the re-clocking has less to do and also the laser tracking motor has less to do, so there may be an improvement but I have to admit I have never been aware of any differences from from CDs where I have used the raw SPDIF signal.
External DACS are a different kettle of fish and one I am not venturing into.

John

[Phil Y]

Thanks Richard and John,
You have both confirmed what I suspected myself, basically, if what is taken off the disk is reasonably error free then job done.

Phil.

[Richard]

Yes, but dacs can sound quite different as John hints. I've had 3 stand-alone dacs the last couple of years and compared them with each other and with the integrated ones in the CDp and Squeezebox. It was something of a mixed bag of pros and cons with all but one, which has given a good improvement to both players, so well worth a listen if you can buy or borrow them to try.

[Chris]

I have tried different transports with my old Audio Synthesis Dac and found a big difference. Specs do not always give you an indication of how something will sound, it's always best to listen and compare. At one point I was going to buy the Cyrus Signature transport at £1700, but was advised by the dealer that the Cyrus Signature streamer at £1200 was better, I did not get a chance to compare them both but did get the chance to listen to the Streamer in a Cyrus and Kef set-up for just under £20k and the sound was smooth and relaxing.

Chris.