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Today's Transport War: Significant Differences?

I have been reading much these days about computer/hard-drive based transports as being a whole order of magnitude superior to traditional CD transports. In my reading, the camp who believes hard-drive based transports can render major improvements has been most notably represented by Empirical Audio. The camp which suggests that traditional CD transport techonology (or atleast the best of its sort--VRDS-NEO) is still superior has been most notably represented by APL Hi-Fi.

Each of the camps mentioned above are genuine experts who have probably forgotten more about digital than many of us will ever understand. But my reading of each of their websites and comments they have made on various discussion threads (Audiogon, Audio Circle, and their own websites) suggests that they GENUINELY disagree about whether hard-drive based transportation of a digital signal really represents a categorical improvement in digital transport technology. And I am certain others on this site know a lot about this too.

I am NOT trying to set up a forum for a negative argument or an artificial either/or poll here. I want to understand the significant differences in the positions and better understand some of the technical reasons why there is such a significant difference of opinion on this. I am sincerely wondering what the crux of this difference is...the heart of the matter if you will.

I know experts in many fields and disciplines disagree with one another, and, I am not looking for resolution (well not philosophical resolution anyway) of these issues. I just want to better understand the arguments of whether hard-drive based digital transportation is a significant technical improvement over traditional CD transportation.

Respectfully,
pardales
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
Much of the above technical discussion is interesting and yes, I do accept that data stored on a computer's hard drive can be superior.

There are, however limitations. The first has to do with the format used to rip a CD. Everything is most dependant on the DAC used. I just purchased a Slimdevise TRANSPORTER which has a really high-end DAC and now my music on my computer as well as streaming audio is as good as my stand-alone CDs. Getting to this point took a while.

I had never been happy with my Apple G5's ability to play back my music. I have an Audio Aero Capitole CD player and I have a pair of bridged McIntosh 2102 amps and my speakers are Kef Referance 205s. Music from my computer, even using Apple lossless or WAV simply never equaled what I got from my primary system. I ordered a TRANSPORTER, but since they were back-ordered they gave me a squeezebox for free and this was an improvement. Then, the Transporter arrived and it sounds great. It has several digital outputs, including a balanced AES/EBU which makes it the first unit i have owned that actually outputs this signal. It also outputs toslink, coax and SP-dif. I have tried all three as my Audio Aero will accept any of these and the SP-dif sounds the best. Even streaming audio sounds good.

So, yes pure data well stored is fine; don't ignore the system's retrieval ability as cold science is still cold.
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drubin
3,275 posts
 
I'm confused. You say the Transporter has a great DAC, but it sounds like you are taking its digital out and using the DAC in your Audio Aero.
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
Good question. The Transporter's DAC kicks in before it releases the Info. The feed from my transporter sounds much better than from the squeezebox using the same S/P DIF digital cable.
pardales OP
652 posts
 
There will always be terms that need definition. I still think that where we are in this discussion is trying to answer the question of whether a computer can put out a digital signal equivalent to what a classical CD transport can put out.
jsadurni
210 posts
 
Pardales, have you tried a top transport in your system?
How does it compare to the Hag-usb link?

As always a general conclusion will never be met, but a personal conclusion can be drawn....

I tried computer audio and a good CD transport makes a world of difference in my system, anyway I will some day buy a computer interface with SPDIF and try it out again, maybe the next generation will be better....but I will try again Analog first!!!

When a computer link sounds better than my Forsell in my setup I will be convinced!!!
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