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Confused About Relative Sonic Impact of DAC VS. Transport

I've borrowed a Heed DT Transport to use in place of my Jollida JD100 CDP and am confused by what I'm hearing. 
My DAC is R2R ladder/non-oversampling Aqua La Voce. With Jolida in system, the sound is on the warm side of neutral without verging into tube-like, euphonics. With the Heed transport, all I seem to notice are the liabilities of every CD I play. 

If the Heed is more efficient at reading data from the CD than the Jolida, does this mean I am hearing the effect of the DAC more clearly, or am I hearing the effect of more information from the disc?

At first, I enjoyed the increased resolution, but with further listening, the sound, overall, strikes me as "thin" (as though lacking lower mids) and the highs verge on fatiguing. 

Switching out footers has some effect, as does tweaking my Schitt Loki EQ, but I'm still not very happy.

Excuse my French, but WTF is going on, here ?

BTW, John Darko, when reviewing the Aqua, recommended it as a particularly good choice for harsh-sounding CDs. 





stuartk
itzhak1969
515 posts
 
The Simaudio 260T needs about 200 hours break in period but my impression is that you'll hear immediately that it's better than the Heed.
SPDIF cable is inferior to coax I don't recommend to change it but quality coax and rca cables are a must to allow your system to perform at its best.
stuartk OP
2,988 posts
 
itzhak1969: thank you
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
There are actually more transports out there than you might think--they don't receive an enormous amount of promotion, because of the trend toward streaming, but they are available.  A number at different price points have been discussed in a couple of fairly recent threads.  See what a search for CD transport brings up.  In theory, each and every one will sound at least a little different from the others.  I'd be kinda inclined to try the Bel Canto.
mooglie
101 posts
 
Well, you have a lot of silver and silver plated cabling in the system which can tend to highlight the upper end.  The Belden is supposed to be "musical" and "tonally rich".  I have not tried it, but many have.  I think you may need some more copper in the system.  Gold, too. 

 Look at your power cord and see if it's a rhodium (silver) or gold connector(s).  Rhodium can tend to sound a bit hard and thin out the mids - at least in my experience.
stuartk OP
2,988 posts
 
twoleftears: the limiting factor, other than my budget, is the fact that I'm only willing to buy what I can return. RE: Bel Canto transports, reviews I've read have characterized them as being on the bright side, which is definitely not the direction I'd want to go. I briefly considered buying the old Bel Canto transport with the top-loading pro2 drive,built like a tank,  but the seller offered no returns and I wasn't willing to gamble, especially given what I'd read in reviews about the sound. 

mooglie: they are rhodium. I'd originally purchased the gold version but the sound was smeared with the Jolida in the system and Rob Fritz let me exchange them for rhodium. My system was really nice sounding until I replaced the Jolida with the Heed. An audiophile buddy with a very expensive vinyl system said mine was the only digital system he'd heard that he actually enjoyed. If Jolida was still making the JD100, I's just buy another as a back-up. Too late for that, now and Jolida no longer has any drives in stock.


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