Silly Question...does a transport have a "sound" ?

If you don't think transports effect sound just change transports and nothing else and listen. I was very surprised myself. I didn't think when used as a transport only there would be a difference but there definately is.

Jafox: Hovland was using a transport that started life as a $100 Pioneer CD player in their "reference system". This player was professionally modified in heavy fashion and marketed under another name. It sold for $500, even though it retained the "cheezy" low grade Pioneer chassis. In finished form, this product was the G&D Transforms Reference One Transport.

People hearing this system said that it sounded quite good, but always felt the need to add one more comment. That is, how much better would this system be if they got rid of that "cheezy" transport and put something "for real" into the system? No matter how "modified" the existing transport was, it was after all still a "lowly" Pioneer at heart and had a flimsy chassis.

After all of the hoopla, Hovland replaced the $500 G&D Reference One with the top of the line CEC transport. Ever see the price tag on one of those things??? They purchased this unit based on recommendations to them from others in the industry, hoping to achieve the best performance possible.

After installing the CEC into the system, the sound was nowhere near as good. They tried changing cabling, power cords, etc... all the usual "band aids" that one goes through to try and correct for an under-designed unit and a lack of "system synergy". When all was said and done, they put the G&D modified Pioneer unit back into the system. Not only was the G&D back into the system, the music was too. Problem solved, but it only cost them thousands upon thousands of dollars to figure out that they had the answer all along. That answer demonstrates that throwing money at a system won't make it sound good, nor will relying on "big brand names" or "industry references".

The end result was that Hovland ended up taking the guts out of their G&D Reference One and installing it into a fancy looking chassis. This allowed them to retain the excellent sonics of a good yet basic design that had been thoroughly modified in a well thought out manner. At the same time, it also allowed them to stifle those wanting something that blended with the rest of the system in a more aesthetically pleasing manner. After all, who could vote for a system as "best of show" when they were using a "budget" Pioneer cd player as their source???

As a side note, Tony from G&D ran into the same problem. So many people dismissed his modified Pioneer based unit based on the looks, that he ended up doing what Hovland did. Even though J. Peter Moncrieff of IAR stated that the G&D was the best measuring, lowest jitter transport that he had ever measured ( all this for $500 ), others couldn't get past the looks of the unit. Quite honestly, even Moncrieff couldn't get by the looks or "plastic" construction and de-rated the unit accordingly.

As such, Tony took the guts of the Pioneer, modified them as he had always done and then installed them in a "fancy" chassis. Not only was this chassis sturdier, it looked more "audiophile" too. This unit was called the G&D UTP-1 ( Ultimate TransPort-1 ) and sold for several hundred more dollars than the original unit in the original chassis. Either way, you still ended up getting the "cheezy" Pioneer remote with either unit : )

One more thing. Transports DO contribute to the jitter that one encounters in a digital based system. Try looking at ANY review of a transport in Stereophile and you'll see the various jitter measurements that accompany that component. Some transports are MUCH higher in jitter than others. For the record, jitter was first "discovered" by Ed Meitner. One of the regulars that posts here i.e. Jtinn, used to run a G&D based system until he switched over to a newer and more advanced Meitner based system. Obviously, Mr Tinn likes clean sound and has good taste in audio gear that is low in jitter : ) Sean
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PS... The story of the Hovland was told to me by an industry professional. This person is both well known on these and other forums and a reputable source of info. I have no reason to doubt what they've told me in the least, hence my willingness to repeat it as told to me.

In the high end we shell out the green for fewer compromises and/or different compromises. Considering that all designs are compromised in some fashion it's easy to say that transports with different compromises could sound different.

I've compared a CDP, a DVD player, and a high end dedicated transport and I prefer the dedicated transport. Did it make a big difference in my system? No, but the magic's in the nuances.

Sean: Thank you for the history on the Hovland models. Much appreciated for your time to cover this. Perhaps their experiences are very parallel to mine as my 12 year-old PD-65 continues to do an incredible job as a transport.

Other than the $3k Magnepan 3.5 speakers, all other components in my system are in the $5k+ range. The fact that the PD-65 continues to work so well here says much about its performance. With this driving the Manley Ref DAC, some audio snobs would say this is like putting a Geo Metro engine in a Ferarri; but this simply is not the case at all.

And the PD-65 is built quite ruggedly....with a fairly decent remote. I simply have not been able to justify buying some other unit simply because mine has a "Pioneer" label on it. But my quest to find that one transport that stands way out from the crowd continues to this day.

John

What does G&D stand for. Are their transports still available?