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Confused About Relative Sonic Impact of DAC VS. Transport

I've borrowed a Heed DT Transport to use in place of my Jollida JD100 CDP and am confused by what I'm hearing. 
My DAC is R2R ladder/non-oversampling Aqua La Voce. With Jolida in system, the sound is on the warm side of neutral without verging into tube-like, euphonics. With the Heed transport, all I seem to notice are the liabilities of every CD I play. 

If the Heed is more efficient at reading data from the CD than the Jolida, does this mean I am hearing the effect of the DAC more clearly, or am I hearing the effect of more information from the disc?

At first, I enjoyed the increased resolution, but with further listening, the sound, overall, strikes me as "thin" (as though lacking lower mids) and the highs verge on fatiguing. 

Switching out footers has some effect, as does tweaking my Schitt Loki EQ, but I'm still not very happy.

Excuse my French, but WTF is going on, here ?

BTW, John Darko, when reviewing the Aqua, recommended it as a particularly good choice for harsh-sounding CDs. 





stuartk
stuartk OP
2,335 posts
 
Have decided to keep Moon transport. Thanks to all who offered suggestions on this thread ! 
bigkidz
3,312 posts
 

All components, cables, have a sound.  You cannot get around that fact.  Copper versus silver, tube versus SS, etc.  Different tubes have a sound.


The transports you listened to have an impact on the sound.  The one is more musical and the other is more transparent.  Different reasons why but I will not go into this here.  The DAC is just reproducing what is being feed to it and then impacts its own sound characteristics.  That is why you try different things in your own system to hear what changes they offer.


My friend had a Nano transport, Rega, NuPrime, Metronome, Cambridge CXC, Sim (not the same model here) and then preferred the Electrocompaniet one up CDP.  So you have to try out things for yourself and then decide.

junzhang10
252 posts
 
Just use Tidal or Qobuz. No transport and cable. Just need a decent DAC
stuartk OP
2,335 posts
 
bigkidz1: I agree. Trying things out is the only way. Anyone who says transports don't affect tone is sorely mistaken, in my opinion. The SQ difference between the Moon and the Heed in this regard was huge-- nearly as stark as the difference between COS and Metrum DACs I demo'd a while back. 

I decided to go with The Cable Company to demo IC's and it's turned out to be a very positive experience-- so much so that I'd heartily recommend them to anyone shopping for cables.  I've ordered Acoustic Zen Silver Reference. Plenty of resolution without fatiguing highs, terrific PRaT and most important of all (to me) -- compelling emotional engagement of the sort that makes me not want to leave the listening chair. I've heard folks  enthuse about "rediscovering their music collection" and now I can relate to that. Thanks to the Silver Reference and the Moon, my system's made a big jump in terms of getting out of the way of the music. 


stuartk OP
2,335 posts
 
junzhang10: thanks but I'm old fashioned-- I grew up with and prefer physical media. I use my PC for researching and buying CDs and audio gear; I have no interest in bringing the computer experience into my listening environment. 
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