franzdom
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2006
- Posts
- 613
- Likes
- 114
This summer I ripped my entire CD collection to my computer again, ALAC > iTunes. Previously it was mostly 320kb.
I also bought a few new CD's. One of them was Max Richter's "from Sleep". It is relaxing new-age type music. Mostly it sounded quite good from the computer. However, the first song has some crackle and pop. Song 2 and most others didn't exhibit this. It is consistent, meaning same place every play. I tried ripping it again, no change. I thought perhaps the CD is faulty.
The next thing I did was download the mp3 from Amazon for free since I had bought the CD there. I am not 100% sure the crackling is in the same places but it seemed the same. I thought it was in the master.
But, I got to thinking about transports. My desktop computer has the typical Lite-On or flavor of the month CDRW type player. Computer also doesn't have S/PDIF coax out which I really wanted to try. I had been trying optical and USB into Yggy which were ok. Apparently there aren't many options for cards to get the coax output, even the venerable Creative ZXR.
Enter the search for a CD player and discovery of a dedicated transport. Since I already have the Schiit Yggdrasil I was hesitant to put much into a CD player when most of the expensive ones are touting their nicer DAC's. I ended up with the Cambridge CX-C CD transport. No DAC, no analogue output. It was $500.
I had also considered NAD & Yamaha units in the 700-800 range. Those were players and included DAC's. Other transports I found were slot load and I wasn't too keen on that.
The tray is a bit flimsy especially compared to my older CD player, Sony XA-20 ES. It's plastic and a bit clunky. That is where the issues stop though. The CXC plays quickly, quietly meaning no noise from the box, and the sound is very compelling. I sampled so far REM Murmur, Max Richter Vivaldi 4 Seasons, some Pink Floyd, and some Count Basie.
Also I must report that it completely fixed Max Richter from Sleep disc I was having trouble with. I was amazed about that. No pops or micro skips anywhere on the whole disc.
But even better I can report that the music is more engaging, perhaps more euphonic, and extremely enjoyable.
I think part of what is going on is how transparent the Yggy is and my cans being pretty much equal time every day swapping between LCD-XC & LCD-3. You hear everything. I think the computer is either causing some trouble on rip or on processing playback. Jitter also perhaps.
I wonder if Coax SPDIF is helping, well it can't be hurting.
A plus is I can turn the computer off and reduce background noise.
I am so happy about this new piece of kit. It seems like everything I listen to is like listening to it new again. There is more plankton and there are lots of discovery moments. I am diving even deeper into the jazz hall or recording studio. I think I will be using the computer for light listening like christmas playlists to speakers and things like that but I think the vast majority of my headphone listening will now be done through the CXC.
I opted for the silver model, it's lighter than shown here and matches my Schiit perfectly.
I also bought a few new CD's. One of them was Max Richter's "from Sleep". It is relaxing new-age type music. Mostly it sounded quite good from the computer. However, the first song has some crackle and pop. Song 2 and most others didn't exhibit this. It is consistent, meaning same place every play. I tried ripping it again, no change. I thought perhaps the CD is faulty.
The next thing I did was download the mp3 from Amazon for free since I had bought the CD there. I am not 100% sure the crackling is in the same places but it seemed the same. I thought it was in the master.
But, I got to thinking about transports. My desktop computer has the typical Lite-On or flavor of the month CDRW type player. Computer also doesn't have S/PDIF coax out which I really wanted to try. I had been trying optical and USB into Yggy which were ok. Apparently there aren't many options for cards to get the coax output, even the venerable Creative ZXR.
Enter the search for a CD player and discovery of a dedicated transport. Since I already have the Schiit Yggdrasil I was hesitant to put much into a CD player when most of the expensive ones are touting their nicer DAC's. I ended up with the Cambridge CX-C CD transport. No DAC, no analogue output. It was $500.
I had also considered NAD & Yamaha units in the 700-800 range. Those were players and included DAC's. Other transports I found were slot load and I wasn't too keen on that.
The tray is a bit flimsy especially compared to my older CD player, Sony XA-20 ES. It's plastic and a bit clunky. That is where the issues stop though. The CXC plays quickly, quietly meaning no noise from the box, and the sound is very compelling. I sampled so far REM Murmur, Max Richter Vivaldi 4 Seasons, some Pink Floyd, and some Count Basie.
Also I must report that it completely fixed Max Richter from Sleep disc I was having trouble with. I was amazed about that. No pops or micro skips anywhere on the whole disc.
But even better I can report that the music is more engaging, perhaps more euphonic, and extremely enjoyable.
I think part of what is going on is how transparent the Yggy is and my cans being pretty much equal time every day swapping between LCD-XC & LCD-3. You hear everything. I think the computer is either causing some trouble on rip or on processing playback. Jitter also perhaps.
I wonder if Coax SPDIF is helping, well it can't be hurting.
A plus is I can turn the computer off and reduce background noise.
I am so happy about this new piece of kit. It seems like everything I listen to is like listening to it new again. There is more plankton and there are lots of discovery moments. I am diving even deeper into the jazz hall or recording studio. I think I will be using the computer for light listening like christmas playlists to speakers and things like that but I think the vast majority of my headphone listening will now be done through the CXC.
I opted for the silver model, it's lighter than shown here and matches my Schiit perfectly.
