Today's Transport War: Significant Differences?


I have been reading much these days about computer/hard-drive based transports as being a whole order of magnitude superior to traditional CD transports. In my reading, the camp who believes hard-drive based transports can render major improvements has been most notably represented by Empirical Audio. The camp which suggests that traditional CD transport techonology (or atleast the best of its sort--VRDS-NEO) is still superior has been most notably represented by APL Hi-Fi.

Each of the camps mentioned above are genuine experts who have probably forgotten more about digital than many of us will ever understand. But my reading of each of their websites and comments they have made on various discussion threads (Audiogon, Audio Circle, and their own websites) suggests that they GENUINELY disagree about whether hard-drive based transportation of a digital signal really represents a categorical improvement in digital transport technology. And I am certain others on this site know a lot about this too.

I am NOT trying to set up a forum for a negative argument or an artificial either/or poll here. I want to understand the significant differences in the positions and better understand some of the technical reasons why there is such a significant difference of opinion on this. I am sincerely wondering what the crux of this difference is...the heart of the matter if you will.

I know experts in many fields and disciplines disagree with one another, and, I am not looking for resolution (well not philosophical resolution anyway) of these issues. I just want to better understand the arguments of whether hard-drive based digital transportation is a significant technical improvement over traditional CD transportation.

Respectfully,
pardales
I much prefer this to spinning CD's because of the lower jitter and superior sound quality.

Sure! :-)

Regards,
Alex
Seandtaylor99 - Steve has listed the main software components. Also ensure that for whatever sound output device you use, make sure you have the latest software drivers and use a dedicated computer with latest software (Windows XP SP 2). In foobar2000, use either kernal streaming or ASIO for playback.
The Altmann article seems to align with some of Alex's point of view, if I understand the two of them correctly.
Drubin, to me the Altmann article just says that you have to minimize the sample clock jitter at the DAC chip. It doesn't infer that this is better done via a one-box, multi-box, or computer design.