[devin_mm]

I am currently building my digital system I will be feeding my transport into my DAC1 into a balanced Beta22 (or balanced tubes). Currently I have a Pioneer DV-563A and I was wondering if that was good enough or what else I should look for.

Thanks

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

As far as I know the DAC1 is pretty immune to jitter, this whole deal with 't transports doesn't make much sense to me but you're welcome to try something else.

 

[n_maher]

I'd have a look at the transport that thrice is selling right now. I compared that to a pretty expensive Pioneer and found the other to be clearly better.

 

[devin_mm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by n_maher /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd have a look at the transport that thrice is selling right now. I compared that to a pretty expensive Pioneer and found the other to be clearly better.

I looked at that too bad it's sold. I might have to consider building one.

 

[pianomav]

I'm using my iriver-ihp 120 as transport and I hear no jitter at all out of my DAC1. But if you're using CD, then that's a different ball game. All my CDs are now extracted to lossless audio on my iriver.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

There's not a huge amount of good transports around now, particularly so with the use of computer drives by many.
I used to have a Meridian 500 transport, which can be bought for reasonable money now. That resulted in a reasonable upgrade and itself was further improved with a better clock mod.
Supposedly, about the best transport you can get is a VRDS unit from Teac/Esoteric. Note that they have been upgraded gradually over the years, though even the older ones will be better than a DVD player.

 

[dste6]

Believe it on not, transport does make a significant difference. There are many factors that potentially degrade the (digital) signal on its way from media to dac, including mechanism stability, error correction algorithms, clock quality, jitter, and the connects to the dac are very important as well. PLZ stay away from dvd players, they are possibily the worst transport to use, firstly because usually they are not oriented towards quality sound, but more important because cd reading is an after thought. You dont have to buy something that has 'transport' writen on it, a good cdplayer with digital outs (only use coax!) are in many cases better choices.
Transport mechanism stability is usually a good indication, for this reason i recommend at top-loading cd-player, they instrinsicly make better, more stable transports. The first on your listen should be the Rega Apollo or Planet 2000 models. These are top loading and possibly make THE best transports relative to their price (800 second hand, 1400ish new), i have heard them compared to the transport in 12,000 dollar cd players (various stupid $ Musical Fidelity's) and will tell you this, they are AS good as transports. If top loaders dont float your boat, Naim make possibly the best drawer loading cd player's as transports, to the point where they have removed the motor from the draw so you pull it out manually, stabilty? the thing is a tank. Another important consideration is the cabling, only use coax, never optical as they are usually very lossy. That said, a good coax will make a difference as well.
Technicalities aside, i have heard various transports compared on high level speaker systems, and there is a difference, i recommend going to a audiophile store and having a listen. I have heard the dac1 and own 701, it is a very revealing of equipment, it will certainly show you the differences

 

[devin_mm]

Thanks for the information.

 

[devin_mm]

Does anyone have any experience with the Audio Note CDT-Zero? How does it compare?

 

[Naga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_Sukebe /img/forum/go_quote.gif with the use of computer drives by many.

really? how does one go about doing this?

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naga /img/forum/go_quote.gif really? how does one go about doing this?

?? I'm not sure what you mean by your question.
My statement refered to the fact that a number of newer CD players use computer CD drivers as their transports, an example being the far from cheap Meridian units, which use memory as data banks to apparently reduce jitter and enable read ahead and re-read to improve data accuracy.
Of course the more cynical amongst us may believe that it's purely to save a few $.

 

[clarke68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dste6 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Believe it on not, transport does make a significant difference. Transport mechanism stability ... cabling ... optical ... a good coax will make a difference as well. There are many factors...it will certainly show you the differences

While much of what you're saying here is technically true, this is a bit like the tail wagging the dog.

That is, transports make a significant difference if the DAC is poorly designed. Problem is, the vast majority of DACs on the market are poorly designed (even the fancy audiophile ones), and are susceptible to transport-induced jitter. The Benchmark is one of the best in that regard -- probably the best in it's price range -- I wouldn't lose any sleep (or spend a lot of money) getting a transport for it.

There are people who claim to hear significant differences in transports even with the Benchmark and other "jitter immune" DACs. I obviously can't say that they do or do not, however I seriously doubt the differences they do hear are, in fact, significant.

 

[OverlordXenu]

Any transport that doesn't over/resample and has bit-perfect output is fine. You can't improve on that.

 

[Naga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_Sukebe /img/forum/go_quote.gif ?? I'm not sure what you mean by your question. My statement refered to the fact that a number of newer CD players use computer CD drivers as their transports, an example being the far from cheap Meridian units, which use memory as data banks to apparently reduce jitter and enable read ahead and re-read to improve data accuracy. Of course the more cynical amongst us may believe that it's purely to save a few $.

ok i see, i thaught you meant there is a way to rig a CD-ROM to the coaxial/digital in on a DAC

 

[yossi126]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OverlordXenu /img/forum/go_quote.gif Any transport that doesn't over/resample and has bit-perfect output is fine. You can't improve on that.

+1