What's wrong with a DVD player as a transport?

Like Davetherave, I also have a DAP-777. I purchased a brand new CAL Audio DVD player after they went out of bsuiness for $800. Original cost was $2,500 It has balanced output to feed into the DAP-777. It also had a very expensive transport mechanism.

The review in Stereophile to Home Theatre stated the DVD portion was so-so but it had a state of the art transport section. Sound quality is outstanding. Also the video section can be turned off for less electrical interference. I can't see spending big bucks for a transport. (This replaced a Pioneer DVD model modified by Dan Wright that I used for 4 years with the Birdland DAC-Lite.)

I think John Marks addressed the issue of inexpensive transports in Sterophile stating that a used EAD player sounded fine.

I appreciate everybody's input. I'd like to hear from an engineer who could say why a dvd player won't work as well as a cd player for a transport though.

What makes you think that a DVD player won't be as good of a transport as cd player?

I had a Music Hall CD25 cd player and Sony S7700 dvd player that I compared as just transports and liked S7700 better. Dac was Bel Canto DAC2.

You are speaking in general terms as well when you say dvd player vs cd player as a transport. it's like comparing a sedan to a coupe. which is a better performer? can you say?

They can. I have a reference player that is a modded Sony DVP-S7700 DVD player. There are several others that make superb transports as well, including Denon 2900, Pioneer DV-47A, Pioneer DV-09. All stock transports have weaknesses due to requirements for FCC emissions and sometimes due to poor design as well. See this white-paper for more info:
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue14/spdif.htm

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
manufacturer

I had a Sony DVP-S7700 that was mod'd specifically for Transport duties. Personally, the Cary CD-308 and Theta Miles that I owned at the same time smoked the mod'd Sony when used as a transport. In my system the Sony made my digital front end sound like, well, a Sony DVD player. It was tonally OK, but the soundstage narrowed to a point between the speakers and it just didn't have an zip to it.

To each his own!

Enjoy,

TIC

I use a DVD Player as a transport. I notice no narrowing of soundstage ..sorry. I've also compared separate transport to cd player..again there just wasn't enough difference to warrant spending more. Maybe some of these players have more noise and jitter than others? These units must have extreme quirks to make your system sound as bad as some describe...I just haven't heard it.
I should have one of Audioengr's Turbomodded Electrocompaniet ECD-1 w/SuperClock 2 DACs here in the next week for an audition. Looking forward to hearing this DAC as I hear the differences in DACs, amplifiers, preamps and cables with no problems using a cheap dvd player.