Is the Transporter

Thanks Ncarv, The fact that the W4S DAC can (and should?) work without a preamp is pretty huge. Since I only have digital sources in my set up that would work. Also, I have always beleived that the fewer intermediate steps (and D/A and A/D conversion) done the better.

Any feedback from people using the W4S DAC without a pre?
Any other preampless (?) options?

Based on my own experience and past research I think the transporter has certain features that allow it to potentialy offer better SQ then the less fancy alternatives previously mentioned such as the SB3/Touch and Sonoos

For me, the fact that the Transporter came with balanced and AES/EBU outputs was a huge plus over the other options at the time. I also believe it offers superior wireless streaming performance, especially with high Rez files. I think it has a faster processor and more ram then the other SB devices to help reduce dropouts (which I have never experienced anyway). This doesn't really matter to me much though as I have since moved to hard wired because I feel it sounds better in my system.

I run my SBT into a BelCanto DAC3 via AES/EBU then I feed my amp directly from the XLR Balanced outputs of the BelCanto. I have no complaints and feel no need to upgrade at this point.

If I had to do it over again I would purchase the new Bryston media player and feed it to my BelCanto or similar DAC/PRE and call it a day

Thanks Eniac. A Bryston BDP-1/BDA-1/Bel Canto combo fed by a SB would be a great set up. I use a Bryston amp already. I do need the wireless capability for my situation though.

Do you prefer the sound of the Bel Canto DAC over that of the Transporter or do you need the DAC3 as a preamp?

In response to "Vincent" post I have actually never used the DAC that comes with the Transporter in my system. I use the BelCanto DAC3 exclusively for its DAC/Pre capabilities.

I have a Transporter (as well as 3 Duet's) and the Transporter is a great piece of kit. There is still nothing that does what it can years after its release.

First, it's more versatile than other solutions because it has more inputs. With the streamer to DAC route you are already using up one digital input for streamed music. The Transporter converts the music internally, so you still have all the digital inputs to use for other devices such as PVR and DVD player.

It has both balanced and single ended outputs which not all other DAC's have.

The volume control is digital attenuation, which I'm pretty sure is the same method that W4S uses. The single ended outputs of the Transporter have jumpers that can be set though to match your power amp if you do want to use it as a pre-amp. The jumpers don't affect the balanced outs.

Another good thing about the Transporter is it's resolution. Stereophile measured almost 20 bits of resolution, which is still pretty much state of the art performance, so you can attenuate its output quite a bit before it becomes audible. It's other measurements are also superb.

You can also control the Transporter with either wi-fi or IR. You can control it with your smartphone, the supplied remote, your computer/iPad or your learning remote. I have it programmed into my Harmony One so that when I choose an activity the Transporter automatically selects the right input for the desired activity.

It also reduces the box and cable count by combining the transport and DAC into one, and the display is a nice bonus that no other DAC can match.

If that wasn't enough, it also sounds pretty good too.