killer cd,transport player

[Tony Moore]

Hi Smithie,

Yes, I bought the CDPro2M and controller board from DaisyLaser/Home Optics:

http://www.diy-high-end.com/cd/

in July after being inspired again by Fred Shaw at the EggFest1. The original idea was to replace my transport at the time, a Marantz CD6000OSE. My DAC then was the Hawk Audio MP-DAC:

http://www.hawkaudio.nl/cd-dvd/daceng.html

So the transport upgrade was simply to find out if the transport made any difference to the sound. Bear in mind that I had previously fitted the CD6000 with the Trichord Clock and digital I/O reclocker and psu. So it had a decent S/Pdif output and far better clock.

Well, the result was amazing. HUGE difference. Far more than I would've imagined. Bass far bigger, soundstage a lot more fixed, a lot more "abient". Plus it tracks CDs so much better, even ones that used to jump on every player I've ever had it just plays without a hitch.

I'd built my transport with the optional Tent XO3 clock so my next stage was to add the XO-DAC and try out the Tent Link. Here again, an improvement but nowhere near the improvement of the original switch to the CDPro2.

Then of course Leo got me started thinking about Non-oversampling DACs instead of the Crystal 4390 128x oversampling DAC that was in the Hawk. He pointed me to the DAC pcb design made by Pedja Rogic. Luckily I got one of the very last pcbs that Pedja had! I built this and really enjoyed the sound from the TDA1541A. The next step was to combine the Pedja pcb and power supplies with the output buffer board from the Hawk and build another case. (Using my own "flat-pack" design with panels built by Schaeffer in Germany) http://www.schaeffer-ag.de/index.php...age&Itemid=205

I have also added reclocking to the I2S lines and also DEM relocking.

http://users.verat.net/~pedjarogic/a...v_gallery2.htm

I have more photos of the build if anyone is remotely interested...

Tony

[smithie]

hi tony
thanks for sharing that info,would love to see the pics,you can always send me them via pm if you like.
im one of the believers that a transport makes a big difference on its own and in your words youve confirmed that...damn,means im going to have to try it sooner rather then later!
oncegain very intresting and thanks for the insight!
all the best
smithie

[Tony Moore]

OK then!

Here's another one.



The CDP case is three 4mm ally plates as the centre backbone with everything bolted to it top and bottom. All the supplies and control board are underneath and the CDPro and Tent XO3 on the top. I had that mounting bracket also made to sit the CDpro on it's damping springs. The legs are....yes, wine bottle stoppers!

I didn't do anything really that fancy for the supplies to the CDPro2 mech. Just standard LM317 regulators. I did use some low ESR caps on the outputs though, as recommended by Nico on the Daisy Laser website. I think I used 3,300uF, you can't go too high otherwise the regulator gets upset on switch-on. It does provide a reservoir for fast current pulse demands which the regulator might otherwise not be able to respond to. I do also have a slight problem with the reset, it doesn't bother me since I leave the power on continuously but technically the supplies must come up in the correct sequence otherwise the drive locks up. That commercial kit that someone posted uses a timing board to sequence the power supplies. It's no big deal, just blip the mains off and then on again and it resets ok. If I was doing the job again then I'd design in a time delay.

Tony

[smithie]

BLODY HELL TONY,im speechless...i think we found the designer of that killer transport/cd player...how about it world designs?
good stuff
smithie

[alnewall]

It sounds as good as it looks too!

[Tony Moore]

Thanks for your kind comments!

Thanks also to Leo for his expertise and guidance on the whole subject of non-DACs and choice of components. If it wasn't for Leo I would've saved a fortune! Ta. (Just joking)

[leo:)]

Always glad to be able to help Tone and you've done a splendid job
Just imagine how much something like that would cost if it was commercial

ATB!
Leo

[Andy!]

Damn! That is gorgeous!

[Tony Moore]

Thankyou Andy!

After all that though I now mostly use a SqueezeBox3 instead of the CDP. Just for convenience really. The difference in sound quality using the same DAC is negligible. A great shame really but I do still feel a sense of achievement with the CDP that I don't with the SB3 of course.

Cheers,
Tony

[Black Stuart]

Thanks Tony for the update.

I will probably mod my Marantz 63KI but you've re-inforced my opinion that the Sqeezebox route is the one to go down, rather than spend lots of money on a new CDP.

Could you give the cost numbers for both systems and what software you needed to buy for the PC. Also as I am leaning heavily toward a lap top replacement for my dying PC - what would I need to look for in one to be compatible with using it as a music medium? as well as usual functions.