tosehee how well the laser extracts the 1 and 0's off the medium is another aspect of digital that no one thinks about or forgets about. If the 1 and 0's are error riddled from the laser mech reading them the result will be really awful. The Transport it's servo system...it's power supplies the dampening of the chassis all contribute to better sound quality which in turn = a more accurate extraction AND a more analog like presentation. Less digital error in turn reduces jitter although jitter cannot be completely eliminated just like wow and flutter cannot be completely eliminated from a tape deck or turntable. But they can be minimalized to a degree which makes them somewhat inaudible (debatable at times it would seem)
The error correction circuitry can only do so much. If you get too many "guesses" things go south pretty quickly. Hard treble, muddy ill defined bass, poor imaging, a real lack of dynamic slam, 2D presentation.
There is more to a CDP or Transport than just it's jitter rejection, obviously but that seems to dominate conversations and I think it's only one aspect of many with digital that needs to be addressed. Think of it as turntable with a laser instead of a cartridge. It's subject to the same mechanical forces a turntable is subject to meaning the same tweaks you use on a turntable to reduce vibration, isolation etc benefit the CDP/Transport as well. Disc clamping/stabilization etc...
When you truly think about it a CDP is an analog device in every respect except the way it reads the information from the medium. The rest is all mechanical/analog...that goes for a normal hard drive as well. It's a analog device reading magnetic pulses off a disk with a arm and head.....the storage of the info is different but the same as tape in a way. Subject to wear and vibration,error etc just like the CDP and Turntable. Introduce EMI/RFI...vibration etc and the result is less than ideal. No different for a CDP...
I hope that helped some members think of the entire box instead of just one part.
Here is why the CD7 creams everything else I have.......
The CD7 weighs nearly 35 lbs....it's a heavy beast that has shielded servo circuits and a shielded drive with additional dampening added onto to both critical parts. Look at the pics on Kingwa's website. These copper boxes have that heavy dampening material glued on. The rest of the Transport is just as well thought out. The error correction circuitry, the clock, the digital out sections are all well thought out custom pieces that go beyond the normal config. There is parts of this Transport that are not used on any other in the world. I'm damn glad Kingwa built this machine. It took the RE1 to another level without a doubt.
It's so much better than my comp T or other traditional transports it's tough to put into words exactly. I'd say it's the difference between a Class B device and a Class A or even A+ territory.
Peete.