NOOB: Define Transport + Source

[Spadge]

Hi there,

I am fairly new to good quality audio equipment and even newer to good quality sources (my best so far is my iRiver H340)...

After reading through these forums I have become a little confused as to some definitions.

Could someone please define:

Source
Transport

(I had previously thought they were one and the same...a CD player for example)

Thanks
Paul

 

[gordolindsay]

Hey Paul,

The transport is the whole tray mechanism part of your cd player. The source are the DAC's inside the player.

It's when you have an outboard DAC when you hear people referring to the two seperately.

I'm know there are people here that can explain in more detail and in depth a little more but I think that is the just of it.

 

[jefemeister]

a "source" is anything that decodes a musical format and produces a listenable output. For example, a CD player is a source because it allows you to "hear" a CD. A radio is a source because it demodulates the signal and alllows you to hear it. Everything else in a music system simply modifies the source signal.

A CD player has two main sections: the transport and the DAC. The transport is the device that spins the disc, shines a laser on it, and decodes the read information into a digital signal. The DAC takes this digital signal and converts to an analog signal which is what you listen to.
I wouldn't consider a seperate transport a complete Source because you can not directly listen to the digital signal. A Transport + a DAC qualifies as a Source. Some might not agree with me on that, but it's a technicality anyway.

 

[videocrew]

considering a transport a source is kind of like considering a RCA jack a source, they're both involved in getting the music from the disc to the amp, but neither of them can do it alone