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CD transports; do they really matter

In my pursuit of total sonic harmony, I have been investigating whether a CD transport ( to replace my bulky and aged Luxman CD player ) would be a good option.  I had an interesting conversation with the manufacturers rep of a respected brand regarding his companies CD transport.  He basically said its all in the DAC, the transport, as long as its not a cheap component, does not make much or any difference. So, I ask does it really matter?

mdrone

Showing 5 responses by xboom

xboom
24 posts
 

The answer is YES!

 

If you have opened up a CDP or a DVD-Rom drive and look at how the disc spins, you'll noticed there's a lot of wobbling.  This creates a lot of reading errors and need to be corrected.  The error correction for the CD is often "acceptable"  and not true original data.  In the peak of Rom drives era, there are many websites doing tests and looking at errors and correctable errors via scope, how well each brand and model does.  The least read errors with best correction algorithm wins.

 

The same goes for cd/SACD players.  Many brands have their own way of having a very high quality read from the disc to start, eg. using glass lens on the laser pickup, having 3 laser to track and averaging out the errors, using a bigger heavier clamp, reducing spin speed, adding light noise to the red laser, using green laser as pickup, etc etc.  All these are to aim at minimising read errors so less correction is needed.

 

After the read, next up is the data processing before sending to digital out.  This part makes another difference in sound quality.

 

I've not heard the Project or Jay's.  What I can sum up from my experience is:  Basic entry good quality transport is the Audiolab 6000CDT, next upgrade would be the Cyrus XT signature transport, higher end goes to YBA transport with a blue laser, and the ultimate transport goes to Esoteric with their VRDS mechanism.  The first 3 only do red-book CD.

 

There are many other players and transports I heard like the CEC, Marantz, Pioneer, Oppo 205, Cambridge Audio, Mark Levinson, Roksan, but my vote goes to those 4 only.

 

Have fun shopping for a new transport.  Let us know what you finally decide to go  with.

xboom
24 posts
 

Genuine question for audio-union:

 

[I distribute CEC.

Jitter is going to be the lowest with a belt drive transport. The noise level will be lower with a belt drive because the motor is farther away from the noise sensitive laser head. Suspension system of the transport, you usually can not see the suspension system if there is one, are important to keep the noise down. It turns out CD playback is sensitive to vibrations. The lower the vibration sensitivity of laser head / disk turntable, the lower the noise in the data stream to a DAC.

Turns out the basic design of the transport makes a difference to the playback of a CD. Belt drives will always outperform a direct drive transport in my opinion as an engineer.]

 

Wouldn't the wow & flutter from the belt drive mechanism introduce jitter as well?  And as age passed, wow & flutter will get worse and the belt also needs to be replaced.  How can one be sure that the tension on the belt is even throughout the chain after replacing?

 

Thanks.

xboom
24 posts
 

@majorc 

 

Can you tell us the brands and models of those transport you've tested?  Also did you test them on the same equipment like A/B test?

 

 

xboom
24 posts
 
@ghdprentice
1,720 posts

 

 

 

[Yes, you are correct. However, high end equipment will incorporate transports in heavy dampening structures to reduce vibration, feed the exceptionally clean power, isolate from electronic noice and get a tremendously better sound quality.

Also, you need a system of a certain level of resolution and fidelity before differences in transports start making a difference. In general, the better the system the more obvious and important the sonic differences in a transport.]

 

From my experience, you don’t need high end gears to hear differences in cd transport.

 

Few yrs back I walked into a showroom and tested the Cambridge Audio CXC vs the Audiolab 6000CDT. The setup was all Cambridge audio equipment and speakers was floorstand around USD1200. Can’t remember exact models but they were all mainstream entry level stuffs.

 

The CXC sounded slow and lack of bite and attack. I bought the Audiolab. Throughout the whole listening audition, the sales guy kept quiet. Until the payment stage, he said all who came in to audition these two chose the Audiolab and they said the exact same thing as what I heard. It’s really a pure blind test.

 

The CXC and AL transports are entry level cheap stuffs. And yet under the same playback sys produced audible differences that anyone can clearly pin point. And we’re also looking at drawer vs slot mechanism.

 

I also did a comparison test at my friend’s house. He has a USD450 China brand CD player and a cheap USD80 Pioneer dvd player. Both coax digital out to his Parasound DAC preamp, and the CD player beats dvd hands down.

 

I’m thinking those players majorc tested must be really crap stuffs, cos no way a proper CD transport would have no audible differences, as what I’ve experienced from the CXC vs 6000CDT.  Definitely not some psychology made up illusions there.

xboom
24 posts
 

@majorc

 

[Any thoughts regarding playing ripped CDs from a hard drive and how that compares to different levels of transports?]

 

Glad you asked.

 

A good well built ROM drive will yield better rips. And also store those rips into SSD instead of spin disks.

 

I can recommend this Pioneer ROM:

 

I have the older S11j (non X version). The good thing about this Pioneer is that they have a software/utility that allows you to slow down the spin speed. From my experience, the slower speed you use to rip, the better the SQ. Less vibration and less read errors. The X version has more rubber/silicon to damp vibrations. Really good stuff!

 

I have older rips from Plextor, LiteOn and Asus ROM drives but this Pioneer takes the crown.  And yes, I sepnd many many hours ripping and re-ripping the same CDs using different ROM drives for many years.

 

Of course if you buy a very expensive CD/SACD transport with much better damping and much lesser read errors (Esoteric VRDS), it is going to sound better than CD rips.

 

Even though CD music is just 1s & 0s, but the amount of errors play an important part. That’s why in the golden era of ROM drives, there are many websites reporting read and write errors of different brands and models.

 

If record companies were to re-digitise their master analog tape into hi-rez files and you can buy them direct (DSD or 32/768 wav), think there won’t be a need for transport, but more on the higher end interface instead (eg. USB or I2S ports)

 

Hope this answer your question.

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