2. digital
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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
 
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 ! 
bigkidz
3,397 posts
 

All components, cables, have a sound.  You cannot get around that fact.  Copper versus silver, tube versus SS, etc.  Different tubes have a sound.


The transports you listened to have an impact on the sound.  The one is more musical and the other is more transparent.  Different reasons why but I will not go into this here.  The DAC is just reproducing what is being feed to it and then impacts its own sound characteristics.  That is why you try different things in your own system to hear what changes they offer.


My friend had a Nano transport, Rega, NuPrime, Metronome, Cambridge CXC, Sim (not the same model here) and then preferred the Electrocompaniet one up CDP.  So you have to try out things for yourself and then decide.

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