Music Servers VS Excellent Transports?

Wshields, I found a discussion forum thread from earlier this year where you mentioned some random popping problems with the transporter clocked by the EMM. How did you resolve the issue? Thanks.

Der - It would not surprise me at all if it were a compatibility problem between the voltage levels, termination and/or coax impedance of the EMM labs versus the Transporter. There is really no standard for word-clocks in the consumer world. Mixing and matching is risky.

Steve N.

Der,

If you have the server convert flac to wav then stream the wav file, there is no popping issue. I only got the issue when i had the files streamed as flac and then converted on the player.

I don't know if this still is the case, as there have been software and firmware updates since but I have just left the streaming format as wav. The only advantage of streaming as flac is you can fast forward or backward on individual tracks this way. I never do this so I never really looked much more into it once I fixed my issue by streaming as wav.

Steve(Audioengr) Yes, the Transporter is more analytic and Yes, I do prefer the DAC in my Audio Aero.

Still, either way, it is a great ride.

I am new to this area and was wondering if someone can provide a brief explanation as to the differences between using:

Slim Devices Transporter
Modright's version of Slim Devices Transporter
Wavelength Audio USB DAC
Empirical Audio's products (PaveCar, Turbo, etc.)

My digital front end is an ARC CD2. I thought that upgrading to another stand alone CDP or Transport/DAC combo was the only way to go for audiophile quality sound until I stumbled onto this forum.

I have been reading this forum incessantly for the last couple of days trying to come up to speed on this alternative. From what I surmize, these three company's seem to be offering different implementations of the same basic solution, which is having a Hard Drive based PC front end. What I am trying to understand is how they differ from one another and what the pro's/con's might be.

I will also be attending CES/THE Show in January and would welcome any information on "shoot outs" or A-B demo's that are being scheduled in this arena.