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Sorry, I may have been a bit unclear in my post. I do get it. A lot (? most) of us already have a computer with a hard drive stuffed with lots of high quality music. I basically see this kind of networked music device as a way of accessing the music somewhere else in the house (although I understand that some people here would consider using it in the same room as the computer as a way of getting music off the computer with minimal jitter). My point was that for less than the $2000 I would spend on this device, I could build a second entire computer in my "listening room", with a large hard drive, a shuttle case, a display device of my choice, a remote control of my choice and connect it via a decent bit-perfect soundcard's digital out to a $1000 (or less) DAC. To me this would seem to be better value for money.

However if you believe jitter is a major issue (personally I don't) and are prepared to spend some money to eliminate it, then you might see things differently.

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You get to bypass S/PDIF and sync the transport and DAC with the Transporter though, that's the main thing.

It's too early to tell how it'll sound, but there's a large chance it'll sound fantastic..

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I just stated a fact. That price would seem cheap for a Wadia or Levinson, but coming from a $300 SB3... You have to agree that it's one small step in features, one giant leap in price... Perhaps the performance is shooting for the moon?! Only time will tell...

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One small step in features?

I'll have whatever you're smoking.

That thing is absolutely gorgeous, and with the attention to the SQ side of things, I'm very excited about it. The price is going to stop me for a good while, unfortunately, but I will find a way, sooner or later...

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I'll give you some if you could handle it. Might be too potent for you... It's called sanity.

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Oh, I see. The last thing you gave me was too weak.. what was it again? The discrete output mod?

Back on topic - I just got an e-mail back from SlimDevices.

They said they'll have internal pics up in the next few weeks.. awesome!

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No I don't agree with you. I fail to see how the brand name determines the value of a product. I wish you would stop taking every opportunity to diss other dacs so you can get more zhaolu's sold. If zhaolu made a 2k dac I'm sure it would be a revolutionary and unrivaled new entry into the digital world in your eyes, or at least that's what you'd tell everyone.

Small step in features? It's an entirely diffrent product from the Squeezebox, I don't see how you can compare the two at all. The Squeezebox is for streaming audio around the house and acting as a good digital transport, with pretty good analog outputs too. The Transporter is meant as a fully featured audiophile source meant to compete with companies like Wadia or Levinson.

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I just spent a considerable amount of time talking to a reputable SB3 modder. He is stopping mods on SB3s because he feels that no matter what you put into it, it will always be a compromise. All his conclusions are based purely on measurements of jitter and other measureable factors. His opinion is that the Transport is a completely different ballgame and a relative bargain compared to what some modders are charging for mods on the SB3, that will never get you what the Transporter will give you out of the box.

If we were comparing a $300 CD player and $2000 CD player, I don't think anyone would hesitate to think the Transporter was priced reasonably relative to the SB3.

Any idea on how this measures up against the transport "off ramp" from Empiracle audio? just using numbers (i guess no one has heard it, right?)...

It certainly looks like a great way to get music off your computer and play it in another room.

As far as using it in the same room as a computer and thereby using it as a sort of DAC...I don't get it. How do you know this thing (which is essentially a computer, which probably explains the price) is generating less jitter than a PCI sound card (or external USB box) when grabbing the data via an ethernet connection and then sending it out of the internal computer's memory buffer onto a bus (or whatever it is) to the part that converts it to a digital audio signal?

And, for that matter, haven't the jitter issues with s/pdif been resolved with the newer DACs that either ignore the incoming clock without re-sampling the signal (like the Lavry DA10) or re-sample to a higher sample rate (like the Benchmark DAC1)?

well, i want my music exactly where my computer is

the basic problem i have is that my dac has no significant clocking device and the upclocking occurs in my transport (m-Audio Audiophile usb)... and i just dont' trust the M-Audio's clock.

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Hmm. The two most "reputable" Squeezebox modders are Red Wine Audio and Bolder, and both companies are still offering SB mods, so which modder have you been talking to??

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A regular PC uses switching power supply whose regulation isn't as good and there's more noise. There's no prob with having an ethernet connection as there's a memory buffer in such devices. The clocks on PC soundcards are also not as good.

Jitter issues with SPDIF are not resolved. I can still hear differences of sources and cables. It's just better to have less to begin with.