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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
aplhifi
515 posts
 
....the MP will be the audiophile king of the source components. I am betting on this.

Great news Olesno! It seems like everyone who heard and reviewed the MP at "Stereotimes MP" :-) is using it as a digital transport only. Are you in the same boat having the MP hooked to your TACT or you're using it as a stand alone player (using the analog outputs)? Do you have the $5K tube output option? Would be great if you list the associated equipment too.

Lastly, are you in California? SF Bay area by any chance? I'd love to get together some day so I can take you up on your bet.

:-)

Regards,
Alex
olesno
87 posts
 
Sorry, but I am not in California. I'm on the "right" coast in NJ. I do not have the tube output option as I am using it as a transport with my tact 2.2xp and the tact amp s2150. The rest of my equipment consists of Piega P10 speakers, Talon subwoofer, Audience Au24 cabling and Virtual Dynamics Nite power cords. In a few words the sound is very clean but not forward or bright. The soundstaging and focus are excellent. The most striking feature however is the smooth and liquid (but dynamic) sound without any edginess. It has the ability to fool me into the live event more than anything before it.
theaudiotweak
2,801 posts
 
Is playing off the memory chip considered a transport? Ask Mark Porzelli formerly of Melos and Pipe Dreams for a demo at next week's CES show. You will be there won't you?. Tom
aplhifi
515 posts
 
Thank you Olesno! This explains it....I am sure that compared to your Sony 777 the MP is night and day better when used as a transport with the TACT.

Regards,
Alex
eclecticear
14 posts
 
RUR is not nonsense. I am pretty sure Harley would also not call it that.
Instead of getting the data off the CD in a single pass, RUR reads the disc until a predetermined level of the total data on the CD has been extracted. In the case of the MP that level is 99%. This level is adjustable, but Porzilli found that going beyond 99% does not result in better audio performance. Besides that, going above 99% is far more time consuming. If I read it correctly, the RUR technique changes the angle of the laser pick-up when it finds data that is difficult to read.
RUR is also something that some in the recording industry uses to make sure that all the data is on the CD master.
You might want to refer to the reviews on www.positive-feedback.con and www.stereotimes.com. These people give some reasonable descriptions about the inner workings of the MP.
And lastly, why not go to the Nova Physics website at
www.thememoryplayer.com
If you really want an in depth discussion about the CD, get Ken Pohlman's book "The Compact Disc Handbook" 2nd Edition. I got mine from Amazon.com in the used book section. But be prepared to be overwhelmed. I never realized just how complex and sophisticated the inner workings of the CD really are.
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