What is the best transport?

Hi Hew, thanks for the tip!

Will try this and report back.

BR,
Alex Peychev

Suppose you're not trying to get the absolute best quality sound, but only strive for really good sound quality. Let's say you're the equivalent of someone who doesn't adjust VTA/VTF for each record or doesn't label each album for absolute polarity. Clearly that person is not maximizing the fidelity of his system. In that light having a computerized music server is no big deal. It actually might not be the best quality source, but it certainly can sound extremely good and the convenience factor is off the charts.

Thanks to Hew, I have installed Win Server 2012 R2 and also the Audiophile Optimizer.

Just installing the 2012 R2 made a nice difference in sound compared to Win 8, but the result of running the Server 2012 in core mode with the AO is the absolute best possible sound I've ever heard from a computer - "digititis" is gone and I hear pure analog-like music. Simply amazing and highly recommended - a real hope for computer based audio.

Will follow up with shootout results against my DTR-M digital transport and the Kuzma/Dynavector table in a couple of days.

Bottom line, since I have both Apple and the Server 2012 based commuters, you really need the above mentioned setup to really hear what is possible.

Thanks again Hew for the info!

Best wishes,
Alex Peychev
APL Hi-Fi

It actually might not be the best quality source, but it certainly can sound extremely good and the convenience factor is off the charts.

Given that digital is my third string quarterback behind analog tape and vinyl I find myself feeling the same way about computer audio. Having just set up a wired Ethernet network for playback I can say that it bested my previous USB converter setup and comes pretty close to my former reference which was a CEC transport slaved to my Lessloss DAC. The convenience factor is definitely a plus.

I had a chance to meet the Lampizator folks at Newport and I have to,say their transport is enticing, but given how my digital setup,sounds now I may just leave well enough alone.

Alex,I am very please that you are enjoying it. Phil has done amazing work with the Optimizer. There may be a few more things you could do as well that brings further improvements. If you are interested let me know.