Music Servers VS Excellent Transports?

Essentialaudio - If you will be at CES or THE Show next month, I'll challenge you to a shootout. Bring your best Transport and then we will see...

St. Tropez suite 1203

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Audioengr, I'll be attending but won't have equipment to provide, so a shootout won't be possible. It's tough enough getting stuff warmed up and sounding slightly acceptable by the second or third day anyway. Good luck - I'll try to stop by. We've met before.

Essentialaudio - definitely stop in. We are fortunate every year that our sound improves and this year is no exception. A "must-hear".

Steve N.

If you are looking at high end stuff, I would recommend the Slim devices Transporter slaved to a EMM dcc2 se dac. The Transporter is a great piece standalone. To get the last bit of jitter reduction and audio quality use it as a transport with the emm supplying the clock. This combo offers great convenience and great sound.

Walt Shields

Wshields - This is the type of solution that audiophiles should be looking for. Strategies like this (similar to my Pace-Car) are the best way to reduce jitter to inaudible levels.

Unfortunately, the Transporter is a bit expensive and overkill just to get a digital output from WiFi. The same can be done with the Squeezebox3 by adding a clock input to it. Unfortunately, the SB3 will not do 24/96. I'm hoping for a Squeezebox4 soon that has 24/96 capability. Hopefully Logitech didn't throw a monkey wrench in this.

Steve N.