2. digital
  3. 148591-13640

Confused About Relative Sonic Impact of DAC VS. Transport

I've borrowed a Heed DT Transport to use in place of my Jollida JD100 CDP and am confused by what I'm hearing. 
My DAC is R2R ladder/non-oversampling Aqua La Voce. With Jolida in system, the sound is on the warm side of neutral without verging into tube-like, euphonics. With the Heed transport, all I seem to notice are the liabilities of every CD I play. 

If the Heed is more efficient at reading data from the CD than the Jolida, does this mean I am hearing the effect of the DAC more clearly, or am I hearing the effect of more information from the disc?

At first, I enjoyed the increased resolution, but with further listening, the sound, overall, strikes me as "thin" (as though lacking lower mids) and the highs verge on fatiguing. 

Switching out footers has some effect, as does tweaking my Schitt Loki EQ, but I'm still not very happy.

Excuse my French, but WTF is going on, here ?

BTW, John Darko, when reviewing the Aqua, recommended it as a particularly good choice for harsh-sounding CDs. 





stuartk
stuartk OP
3,055 posts
 
lowrider; I can certainly try that but I won't have another quality digital cable until the middle of next week. Thanks for the suggestion.
stuartk OP
3,055 posts
 
lowrider: sorry-- didn't see your question. . . I'm using the stock wall-wart.

mooglie
101 posts
 
You might try a Belden 8402 interconnect.  They can be picked up pretty cheaply on e-bay.
stuartk OP
3,055 posts
 
itzhak-- I have one more coax to try next week, then I will order the sim transport. I've wanted to try the 260T for quite some time but until yesterday, was unable to locate a dealer willing to offer a return policy on it. BTW; how long was the "long" break-in ? ? ? 

lowrider57-- No dedicated lines. I have two outlets and an audiophile power strip at my disposal. To be honest, I never paid attention to what was plugged in, where. It could very well be that analogue and digital are "currently" mixed up. Components are sitting on a fairly massive, built-in book shelf unit, not a rack, which means I have certain limitations regarding cable arrangement but I will definitely see what I can do about this. 

In terms of footers, I've tried old-style Stillpoints, Cardas blocks, EdenSound brass and nothing under the Heed and none of these have yielded consistent improvement, as CD SQ with the Heed is all over the place. I haven't tried mass-loading. 

I'm using the same Audio Art power cord on DAC, Integrated and Transport. I can ask my dealer friend what I might be able to borrow. 
Good power cables are not exactly cheap and as the Heed is the only transport I've tried, so far, I'm reluctant to invest a lot of money into the system to accommodate it, without trying another transport first. 
stuartk OP
3,055 posts
 
mooglie-- what is it about the Belden that you believe might be helpful ? 
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