How important are transports?

Jeff_jones - No, It is not the AC power "pollution". It is generally the jitter spectrum that varies from one transport to the next and the edge-rate of the S/PDIF signal, as well as the impedance mismatch. I have found lots of transport S/PDIF outputs that are not even remotely matched to 75 ohms characteristic impedance.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer

Sean34 - the Sony DVP-S7700 or the Pioneer DV-47A (needs Superclock3).

A good DAC will buffer the data stream it is receiving so that the timing from the transport is irrelevant. So the timing will be based on the clock in the DAC, and the assumption that the DAC knows the rate to play the data back at (which, in most cases, is present on the front panel of the DAC as an indicator light or timing readout...e.g. 44K, 48K, etc.).

The only room for error is the transmission of the data stream, which needs to move data at a fraction of the rate that computers routinely send (and receive) digital data (losslessly, I might add, over extremely inexpensive cables).

Steve N - I appreciate your perspective, but I'm guessing that you don't have your DAC, personal computer, and house fan all plugged in to the same power strip. My only point being that when evaluating audio components that are bad about creating electrical hash on the line (Transports), audible differences may be partly due to power quality differences seen by the rest of your system.

Here's what I know: the $30 CD Drive in my computer can read most CDs (except those that are heavily scratched) PERFECTLY (tested via checksums during the ripping process) at speeds up to 52x normal playback speed. If you don't think your audio-quality CD drive can read CDs at 1x playback speed, or some ridiculous liquid you apply to the surface of the CD will somehow make these perfectly read bits sound better, I've got some swamp land in Florida you should definitely think about investing in. :)

It is all about the DAC.


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Might be some solid truth  to this opinion. 
= Meaninga  good cd player that boasts a good DAC inside, might still be a  serious contender to the newest  DAC craze bandwagon everyone is jumping on.
I'm old school,= a  combo ina  high quality cd player suits me just fine.
I ck out the DAC in the cd player, if pics show high quality,  , then why go  for separates?