Experience with Audio Alchemy DDS pro transport

Kind of long in the tooth. You may have trouble having repaired if it breaks. Good transport in its' day. Uses the pioneer stable platter mechanism.

If this is the one with Pioneer platter where the CD is placed shiney side up, I owned one. Never had a problem with it, worked perfectly while I owned it. It was the only piece of Audio Alchemy that I liked. They haven't been made for a long time though.

SAtch
Why don't you get the Northstar 192 transport?I got that combo too.I posted in your system if you want to check.
George

Dusty Vawter of Channel Island Audio repaired and modded AA gear for quite some time. Check to see if he can help you.

Yup, it's the one with the Pioneer Stable Platter. Since Pioneers with this mechanism are rather common I could pick one up secondhand to use for spare-parts. The reason I'm interested in the Audio Alchemy is that I can get it for a good price, while the Northstar, which I like, is rather expensive.

Thnx, but since I'm living in Europe (Holland) it might be wiser to look for someone on my side of the ocean ;).

Satch,
I really liked the I2S connection. I had some upgraded I2S cables that were excellent. I think they were made by Audio Magic but I'm not sure since it was quite a long time ago. If you decide to go with I2S I'd recommend searching these cables out as they will be worth the effort.

Hi everyone

I've got a lot of questions about I2S connections.

Are I2S cables siginificantly better in terms of sound quality than regular digital coax?

Does one have to have a very high end system to realize the difference in SQ when I2S cables are used?

Does it matter where the I2S cables are placed in your system? Does it matter more to use the I2S cable from your transport to the digital signal processor or from the digital signal processor to the DAC?

The reason I ask is that I can't find reasonably priced I2S cables. I've only found Revelation Audio who charge $250/cable or April Music Stello I2S cables $195 per cable. Are there any other makers of I2S cables that aren't so pricey?

I've also got an Audio Alchemy DTI Pro 32 going to an AA DDE v1.1 and everything sounds good to me right now.

Thanks and advise when you can. JD

Hi
The I2S is a digital interface designed to go between a cd transport and a digital to analog converter or DAC.It suppost to be a better connection because it transmits the signal's clock and data seperately,and so it reduces the jitter.Now jitter is timing errors and contributes to distortion and sound deterioration in a high resolution system.Audio Alchemy,Camelot Technologies,Sonic Frontiers and few other companies were using I2S but I believe Audio Alchemy was among the first perhaps they even pioneered the technology.
The DTI PRO 32 is an antijitter device,and a good one at it.Other similar devices were the Genesis digital lens,Sonic Frontiers Ultrajitterbug,Camelot Dragon,Monarchy DIP,Theta TLC to name a few.The best one was the digital lens much better engineered to the task and more expensive to boot,of these I own two units in my system and they do a fabulus job smoothing out my digital setup.i got two ultrajitterbugs as well.
I was going to buy a DTI PRO 32 but changed my mind a while ago to lack of support in case of failure,although the digital lens is in similar case.
The DDEv1.1 was my very first external DAC back in the day,this I am talking about 1992 and what a good little unit it was!!!! I ended up giving to my brother who used it a lot and I believe has it still in a closet in Greece.
I am not sure about the price on I2S digital cables but i would recommend to shop for used ones even though the I2S interface is not as popular anymore.
Best regards
George

Hi George

Thanks for taking the time out to reply and explain about the I2S interface. I'm casually still looking for a cable within my budget but having no luck. I keep seeing I2S cables for $200 or more. The cable would be worth more than what I paid for AA V1.1.

Take care. JD

Hi,

I'm also looking for an affordable i2s cable. I thought of making some up but I cant find the right connector. It's a 5 pin mini din but it appears to be reversed in the pin layout compared to the AA one. The search goes on.

Andy