CD transports; do they really matter

@facten

It doesn’t really seem that you have allowed yourself an opportunity to really evaluate if an ’expensive’ transport positively impacts SQ. I think that if you tried even a modestly priced transport, say a Cambridge CXC, or Audiolab 6000 that you would likely hear an SQ difference, let alone via an even better quality transport beyond those.

Exactly on point! None of the lower level CD players on his list would come close in sound quality to the modestly priced Audiolab 6000. Not to mention something like the CEC TL5 or SimAudio 260D transport that takes you to an even ( higher level of sound quality from the Audiolab 6000 transport. And yet you can go further upward with Jay’s Audio CD transports and certainly Pro-Ject RS2T.

IMO @majorc needs to gain exposure and listen to the better quality CD transports and then compare these to the CD players he cited. I believe that there’s no doubt he would easily recognize the significant improvement gained with better built and executed/implemented  transports.

Charles

Thank you - I'm glad I jumped in to this thread. Any thoughts regarding playing ripped CDs from a hard drive and how that compares to different levels of transports? I know some have stated that only the highest quality transports will best HD playback.  

Another factor that is worth emphasis is the level of the home audio system.  As you improve the quality of the speakers, amplification,  cables etc. resolution and overall sound quality improves. You are now capable of hearing more and the differences amongst the transports become ever more obvious and distinctive. 

Charles 

@majorc

[Any thoughts regarding playing ripped CDs from a hard drive and how that compares to different levels of transports?]

Glad you asked.

A good well built ROM drive will yield better rips. And also store those rips into SSD instead of spin disks.

I can recommend this Pioneer ROM:

I have the older S11j (non X version). The good thing about this Pioneer is that they have a software/utility that allows you to slow down the spin speed. From my experience, the slower speed you use to rip, the better the SQ. Less vibration and less read errors. The X version has more rubber/silicon to damp vibrations. Really good stuff!

I have older rips from Plextor, LiteOn and Asus ROM drives but this Pioneer takes the crown.  And yes, I sepnd many many hours ripping and re-ripping the same CDs using different ROM drives for many years.

Of course if you buy a very expensive CD/SACD transport with much better damping and much lesser read errors (Esoteric VRDS), it is going to sound better than CD rips.

Even though CD music is just 1s & 0s, but the amount of errors play an important part. That’s why in the golden era of ROM drives, there are many websites reporting read and write errors of different brands and models.

If record companies were to re-digitise their master analog tape into hi-rez files and you can buy them direct (DSD or 32/768 wav), think there won’t be a need for transport, but more on the higher end interface instead (eg. USB or I2S ports)

Hope this answer your question.