Transport for DAC

Before spending the high dollar on a classe or mcintosh, I'd think seriously about a mac mini as a server via usb into your dac3. It is very hard to beat under 5k or so...

Hey 4est, I actually have a mac mini hooked up to it right now. I just want a nice transport for when I play CD's. The Mini sounds pretty amazing I do agree.

I have had a DAC3 for a couple weeks now and have run a 200.00 player and a 1500.00 player as transports. Can't tell any difference. That's why I am selling the expensive player. Cables might make a bit of a difference, but to be truthful I can't tell there either (using the SPDIF inputs--haven't used the toslink or any others on the DAC3 yet).

I think I'm definitely in the minority here, but my own experience is that a good transport does make a difference. When I purchased my Lector transport it was the first piece I had ever had that transformed my system, greater coherence and balance. I can't pretend to know why, but I do know that at this point it has stopped me from exploring computer-based systems because I'm too busy listening to music.

Tbadder - That is true. Good transport makes a difference in general but not with asynchronous upsampling jitter rejecting DACs. I'm using one (Benchmark DAC1) that has very strong jitter suppression with very cheap DVD player (DVD players have good tracking). The only thing affected by transport is jitter and once it is eliminated it won't make any difference as long as player/transport is "bit transparent" (doesn't use any DSP processing or digital volume control etc.)