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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
stuartk OP
2,988 posts
 
itzhak: for most of the Jolida's lifetime, I used it as a CDP, which meant its tubed preamp influenced the system's sound. Furthermore, I used it for many years in conjunction with a tubed Jolida integrated, so you'll  understand how brighter cabling was appropriate. 

Replacing the Jolida integrated with the Wells SS only improved the system. Likewise, when I added the Aqua Dac and began using the Jolida CDP solely as a transport, everything was still very well balanced. In fact, it was the best sound I'd ever achieved. 

It wasn't until I introduced the Heed transport into this system that problems arose. I'm willing to try some different cables, but if that doesn't 
work, I'll abandon the Heed and try the Sim 260T. 

Resolution is not and has never been, my top priority. More than any-thing, at this point, my aim is to extend my capacity to spin CDs.
Given the age of the Jolida and since I already have a nice DAC, it made sense to me to look for a transport, rather than a CDP.  Although I enjoy the added detail presented by the Heed, I'm rapidly losing patience with trying to compensate for its rather analytical character. if new cabling doesn't do the trick, I'll move on to the Sim. I can only hope the latter is less extreme in terms of resolution!







stuartk OP
2,988 posts
 
Ordered a pair of copper Audio Art Statement IC's today.

Will report back once I've listened to the A.Arts' in the system. 

  If they don't tame the Heed's penchant for uncovering sonic nasties,
I'll order the Sim.
stuartk OP
2,988 posts
 
Have decided to order the Sim 260DT to try out.
stuartk OP
2,988 posts
 
Just started running in Sim. Right away, the thin, overly bright sound I heard with the Heed is gone. I've since found out the previous owner was using it in a tube-powered system, which makes more sense.

The presentation is much more robust. PRaT is very good. Needless to say, this is just an initial impression. We'll see how it develops. Monday, the copper IC's are due to arrive and they'll be compared to the silver Audioquests.  
stuartk OP
2,988 posts
 
Have decided to keep Moon transport. Thanks to all who offered suggestions on this thread ! 
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