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

Hi All, I guess it's back up on my soap box again. Well in January I wrote about the different sounding transports and, then my current transport the CEC TL-1. It appears like children and animals, when you talk about them they act up. My CEC started not reading certain discs and had problems searching programed discs over 12 tracks. The CEC never had a laser replacement and I suspect that's what is needed. I will replace the laser assembly when I can find a substitute assembly that fits, because the original laser is no longer available. In the interim I purchased an Accustic Arts Drive 1 online from Playhouse Audio. I hooked the Drive up with an RCA Goldmund Lineal Digital cable and with about a two hour warm up I began to listen. All areas of performance exceeded the CEC's performance, with the exception of the treble, which was stiff,hard and a bit steely, very unCEC like. I was not happy in the least. I rationalized that the Drive 1 spent two days in a cold FedEx truck, so I let it burn in for three days. To say the least all aspects of performance are better than before and the treble is smooth, silky and rounded. I suspect that with more burn in over time it will even get better. At this point I believe this transport is reference quality in sound reproduction and fit and finish. Outstanding top to bottom, highly recommended.

At one time I too believed there were minor if any differences in transports.I know otherwise now.I tried a number of them for my bryston dac and can tell you the Acoustic arts drive 1 it was jaw dropping.It easily better the dv50 in my opinion and sounded quite analog like.I would wager that the bryston/acousic arts drive combo would rival many a very high end player.

Hi back again, all here that own Acustic Arts D 1 CD transport, if possible should try the balanced digital output. It makes a huge difference. I went from SE Goldmund Lineal to Balanced Stereovox HDX2 and I'm on a total different level.

Thanks again to Sean and Metralla fo their insights.Off to another great day in the Year 2005

My two cents worth. It is not fair to compare a good mod to a stock unit. There is a guy here in NJ who modified a Pioneer 65 and it sounds out of this world. That being said, in his system we tried six different transports that were not modified and we found the biggest differences came from the digital cable. But it all comes down to system matching as for example my Pass Labs gear did not mate very well with my buddies Talon speakers but sound great on many others, so go figure.

Happy Listening.