CD transport? need advice. - Page 3

Although theoretically a pc should sound better as the drive is less likely to be affected by vibrations than a cd.

Also a modern hard drive will last a decade plus easily and a cd is far far more vulnerable to scratches, dirt and dust.

I personally cannot understand using a cd player as a transport over a pc, as a pc provides all my music in one place and can even be put on a portable hard drive and taken with me everywhere.

I was suing my PC as a transport. Then the vid card died and the the only way to get it running is to buy the exact same vid card or replace the OS altogether because HP packaged all the freakin' software on the recovery software. Installing a different vid card without a new OS means the drivers on the old card are interfering with the new one's. I've been using my Marantz CDplayer since then, and will do so until I save up the $500+ for a new video card and W7. The complexity of the PC as a transport, not to mention that I'd have a bright monitor running as well as a 750w PSU when all I need is listen, are some reasons why a dedicated CD source isn't still going the way of the dinosaur.

Until, of course, they come up with a music server that doesn't need a monitor. Sure, 15" LCD widescreen monitors are cheap, but in some cases, where do you hang that? My bedroom set-up has no place for it, iPod digital docks don't work with Rockbox (so I'd have to convert everything to ALAC first...), etc etc. Digital isn't always as convenient as the commercials show them to be.

I rip my cd's as I buy them so I do not have this problem and I have a backup of all my music on an external drive.

Also a pc should output bitperfect digital so there is not difference between it and a cd players digital output.

If I were you I would just get a cheap cd or dvd player with coaxial out and use that, there is no way that you could tell the difference between this and an expensive cd player.

jackmccabe: This is not the thread for it, but the linearity of the S/PDIF waveform varies considerably from device to device as a result of the design. As well, most CD players or transports only have an RCA socket for S/PDIF which doesn't have the correct 75 Ohm characteristic impedance, resulting in further detrimental effects, depending on the DAC being used.  Regardless, the OP was after a transport, as he DOESN'T want to rip his CD collection. 

Back on the topic of transports, a local second-hand store has a Sony ES5 (I think) CD player. I have been vaguely wondering for a while if that would be any good as a transport, though, due to its age, I'm not sure it would be too happy reading CD-Rs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Currawong 

jackmccabe: This is not the thread for it, but the linearity of the S/PDIF waveform varies considerably from device to device as a result of the design. As well, most CD players or transports only have an RCA socket for S/PDIF which doesn't have the correct 75 Ohm characteristic impedance, resulting in further detrimental effects, depending on the DAC being used.  Regardless, the OP was after a transport, as he DOESN'T want to rip his CD collection. 

 

Back on the topic of transports, a local second-hand store has a Sony ES5 (I think) CD player. I have been vaguely wondering for a while if that would be any good as a transport, though, due to its age, I'm not sure it would be too happy reading CD-Rs.

The Sony cd player that was widely known for its performance as a transport was the XA7ES. But the prices on those are a bit high. Even though it displays excellent build quality, there are more cost efficient cd transports available. About the XA5ES, it has the same mechanism as the XA7ES. However, it does not have the shielded transformers, the copper plated chassis, and the higher quality caps that the XA7ES has.

Currawong the differences between any well designed and aligned transports are so slight that there is absolutely no way you could hear them, yes you could possibly measure absolutely slight differences in jitter but you cannot hear this.

If I was the OP I would just rip my cd's as I listened to them as it does take all of a few minutes to do it and by doing this you are only sacrificing a few minutes of your listening time per session.

The added hassle of a cd player such as organizing the cd's, finding the correct cd and starting up the cd player, will almost take as much time as ripping the cd's and in the long run it will save a lot of time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackmccabe 

Currawong the differences between any well designed and aligned transports are so slight that there is absolutely no way you could hear them, yes you could possibly measure absolutely slight differences in jitter but you cannot hear this.

If I was the OP I would just rip my cd's as I listened to them as it does take all of a few minutes to do it and by doing this you are only sacrificing a few minutes of your listening time per session.

The added hassle of a cd player such as organizing the cd's, finding the correct cd and starting up the cd player, will almost take as much time as ripping the cd's and in the long run it will save a lot of time.

No need to be redundant. I believe the OP has already purchased a cd transport.

Sorry, I was just trying to recommend an alternative option.

The problem with transports in general is that there are good ones and cheep ones.The TASCAM CD-200 seems like one of the better bets available for around $250. DIY Audio has a little information on these. More should be coming soon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrucYSN 

I'm trying to rip off some of the cds that i listen to the most..... It's so painful to do it.... and while i was packing i count 209 cds + some lend to my friends+ the cds i brought from whosale. If i rip them all off it's gonna be like ... i don't know 3,4TB? Besides I got all the pictures and movies and other stuff in my hard drive.... so I guess i would just keep most of them as they are. and only rip the cds i heard most often lol

Ripping is actually not too bad. You do a few CDs a day when you are on the computer. You get to listen to all you CDs all over again, especially the ones you rarely pull out. I used the free program EAC, which is slower but does a more thorough job. I have about 220 CDs, They were all extract in its purest and largest form, WAV files. The space they take up is just 120Gs, not really that much, considering the hard drive sizes these days. Now all the CDs are on a NAS to be enjoy throughout the house.

Any impressions of the Theta vs the computer yet BrucY ?

Peete.