There was an interesting post over on another circular forum where the poster, who seemed to know what he was talking about, recommended the Onkyo C-7000r as a transport. It's a full CD-player, but apparently if you want you can turn off that part and just use as a straight transport.
looking for the best cd transport only, without dac
I have a Hegel H160 with inbuilt DAC and I'm looking for cd transport recommendation for $1000 or so. I have Harbeth SHL5 + and like an open and transparent sound. I've considered PS Audio PWT and other used options. I'm currently using my $75 Sony bluray player for transport and surprised how good it sounds. I've auditioned transports like Marantz and Cambridge. Options like Primare and Audionote I have't been able to listen to, the latter ones used to get closer to price point. There is also the Oppo 203, but wonder about quality of sound sacrifices in jack of all trades box? When I have compared the few transports I've tried the sound quality differences were quite subtle. So have people here done some serious comparisons of sound quality of just transports and have any great recommendations? Thanks
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Transports don't have a sound of their own. They produce bit perfect digital output and bitperfect is bitperfect. You just want a quiet and sturdy one, and that is all Not true. The difference in transports is the jitter, which includes the Master Clock quality, the associated circuitry and power delivery, and the output driver speed and accuracy.
Jitter has been identified, and decades ago. It would seem to me that the transport *shouldn't* matter because the myriads of high end dacs out there do their own jitter correction and clock management. That would be nice in an ideal world, but that is not the world we live in. 99% of DACs are not perfect at rejecting jitter. All that really matters is the jitter at the end of the S/PDIF cable from the Transport, nothing else. Unless you want something pretty to brag about that is. So why spend big bux on a transport, when you can have world-class jitter (20 psec) with an OPPO driving a Synchro-Mesh reclocker with a Reference BNC cable? Synchro-Mesh - $599 Reference BNC cable - $499 Used OPPO BDP105 - $900 This will kick the butt of any transport on the market at any price. Money back guarantee. See these jitter plots: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=154408.0 Steve N. Empirical Audio |
@audioengr Hi Steve. Your quoting @willemj and @randy-11 from posts back on 11/1 of last year. In any case, I happen to agree with them. You already know the respect I have for your work in this subject, and by no means am I stating that you are wrong about the effects of jitter. However, lets be real/practical. DACs now-a-days (such as, but not limited to, a Schiit Yggdrasil) essentially cleans up whatever "mess" in the way of jitter is sent to it. Interesting enough that I posted in the absolute best dac thread that realistically speaking this is something the "best" DAC should do. that post was glossed over and no one responded. Bottom line is yes, a transport matters, however, the "right" DAC renders the transport a moot point. The Yggdrasil goes as far as can indicate the source signal is crap, if it is, *and even then* purportedly cleans it up. EDIT: And the same (cleanup once signal is inside DAC) also holds true for cabling, IMO. Yes cables matter, however, the cable is part of the overall signal delivery from the transport to DAC, and its resulting "jitter laden signal" (if present) can be properly, thoroughly and effectively "cleansed" once handled by the (quality) DAC. |
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