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CDP or CDP/ DAC - different question

Everyone I've seen this question a bunch of times but I'm not sure that we are asking the correct question. If I buy a box unit and run that way there are lots of reviews/specs etc. If I buy a DAC I can find the same. Thing is if I suspect I want to buy separates and run transport/DAC than I only want to know how good the transport on the CDP is. Problem is that I have never seen any specs on the transport element alone. If I have specs on the Unit or DAC and transport I can make a better decision. I know that there is more to this than the specs but the knowledge gap is still there.

How do you pick a good transport player? Am I missing something?
paulsax
mezmo
516 posts
 
In the interest of not answering your quesiton in what may be a slightly productive manner -- I gave up on the spinning disk part entirely. My new transport is a Mac Mini. Put together your lossless library of whatever you choose, pick the DAC to suit your fancy, and that's all. As for an actual answer to your actual question: sorry, no clue.
paulsax OP
275 posts
 
actually Mezmo that is a pretty good way of looking at it. I think that folks still worry about some aspects of the bit stream (jitter?) this way but you have a point. If you only need a transport why not make it a computer? Same issues or different?

Not really sure I'm communicating my question or thoughts well. Why are we spec'ing some elements of our systems to there and back, yet others are as it comes and a black box.
danlib1
819 posts
 
Paulsax- I think jitter from a Mac Mini can be dealt with very well by Dacs that employ jitter rejection/reduction technologies. I use a Mac Mini into a Peachtree Nova Sabre dac with excellent results. As good as my Marantz SA11 S1? Not quite, but REALLY close.
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