$5k DAC....Will A $500 cd Transport Get It Done?

The correct answer is 0 you should be burning your cd's to a computer out puting via a high quality usb cable to your dac and you will get far superior sound with the ease of use that modern digital file management offers.

Call me if you want advice on how to do this 877 428 2873 we do it all the time it is so much better. I don't use CD's anymore at all.

Yes computer will sound best if done right and I also understand why you might want a CD spinner to use at times. I have both.

Just get a $100 DVD/Blue Ray player from Sony. It will sound fantasitc and be as good as something you pay $1200 for used as a transport. No kidding.

I don't use a transport anymore either, however if you don't want to go the computer route, then you have two options:

1) spend at least $2K on a really good transport. This is actually more important than the DAC

or:

2) use the transport you have or any other inexpensive transport and add a $599 Synchro-Mesh reclocker to reduce jitter. When using this reclocker, the transport and cable does not matter. It gives you a new low-jitter master clock. IF you add the BNC-BNC cable with RCA adapters and the Dynamo power supply, then you have a truly world-class digital source. Still cheaper than a good transport: $1548 for all three items.

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/products/synchro-mesh

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/news-and-reviews/synchro-mesh

Lots of people use the Synchro-Mesh with transports, Apple TV, Sonos, Squeezebox, Wadia itransport and other sources.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Steve (Audioengr) knows his stuff so listen. I will say today's cheapo Blue
Ray players sound darn good if you have not tried it!

The correct answer is 0 you should be burning your cd's to a computer out puting via a high quality usb cable to your dac and you will get far superior sound with the ease of use that modern digital file management offers.

Sweeping statements don't address the variables which are often prevalent in most situations. Going from disc play to computer audio OK if all you own are Redbook CD's. With large collection of SACD's things get more complicated. Spend more money on another iffy eBay PS3 to rip SACD files? No thanks.