I would imagine that the principal reason is Meitner's proprietary DSD interface to be able to transmit a DSD digital signal for SACD to be used by the DAC. Add to this that there is a lot of space inside the Philips unit to allow the necessary hardware/boards to be installed for this application. Although Accuphase and dCS have their own proprietary interfaces, I don't think they'll work with the Meitner unit, and Sony has only recently come out with its own SACD transport which will output a digital DSD signal--who knows, that's probably yet another interface. As far as redbook goes, I'll leave it to owners to say whether other transports are as good or better with a normal CD pcm interface.
About the EMM Labs DAC
It seems that the EMM Labs DAC only can achieve optimal performance in conjunction with the proprietary Philips or Meitner transport. Does anyone know what might be the reason for this synergy? To me the Philips transport is just another mass production unit with quite an ordinary built quality. But where lies the secret? Is it due to another clock, D/A-converter chip or digital filter? If the Meitner modification is truly an improvement, why can it not be applied to other transports?
Dazzdax
Dazzdax