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New Transport? / Streamer? / CD Player?

Looking for help, I want to improve my CD playback and my bottleneck is my CD transport. I'm using a Cambridge Audio CXC transport with an Audio Mirror Tubadour III SE. I love how my AM DAC frames the music so a new transport seems to be the logical path. I have 500+ CDs and primarily listen to LPs now. I would like up the quality of my CD playback thinking this will be my long term path as I get older, yikes!

I seem to have 3 options:

1. Buy a quality transport, these products look interesting:

Pro-ject CD Box RS2 T (needs LPS to sound best?)
Jays Audio CDT2-Mk3 (can't turn off upsampling?)
Audio Note CDT Zero or One

2. Buy a streamer that can either store my ripped CDs or can read them from an external HD?

3. Sell my DAC and buy a one box CD player?

#1 seems to be the most logical but that's mainly because I have limited experience with #2. I have used various laptops but found that my CA CXC outperforms it considerably when playing CDs. I know you can modify computers to do a better but it seemed to be much more complicated and expensive path just to play a CD. I see there are some streamers that are like dedicated and modified computers, some have internal storage others with USB ports so you have attach a hard drive. Are any of these work considering? Keeping in mind my primary objective is to improve my CD playback vs convenience of working from an app. Is a streamer a more complicated device, needing more engineering to deal with noise or vibration issues? Some are very expensive but aren't they just dedicated audio computers.
Are there other transports that I should consider?

Another option is sell off my DAC and buy a one box CD player. Relative the cost of adding transport my budget would be about $5K. Are there any one box CD player options that I should consider? I went for the AM DAC because of how the DAC frames the music, it's an R2R DAC and the music is very fluid and musical. I'm sold on this direction for CD playback the musical experience is similar to vinyl.

Any help appreciated! Auditioning any of the above is impossible where I live.
128x128musichead
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,230 posts
 
"My forecast rests on a very solid footing"

And maybe an accurate forecast, but just a forcast nonetheless. No one knows if digital streaming is going to be the superior source/delivery of audio sound quality 10 years down the road. We will simply have to wait and observe how things evolve. So far I’ve come across no one who is a definitive predictor of future outcomes. Time will tell. In the meanwhile pursue what. sounds best to you.
Charles
tump350
80 posts
 
+1 @ghdprentice. 
       Without debating the benefits of one format over another, I started much as you, wanting to enjoy my CD collection at a higher level of SQ without spending a fortune. Starting with what I thought would be a minor $600 upgrade, I turned to this this forum for advice and went through two or three systems over a year and a half before settling on the components I now have.
          I am very happy with this system and its SQ.  I favor detailed and balanced reproduction that comes as close as posible to what I know/remember a live acoustic event to be.  My system is based on an Innuos Zenith Mk3 streamer which easily ripped and currently stores/plays my 650 or so CDs.  The Innuos also servs as a Roon core. With a lifetime Roon and monthly Qobuz subscription,  suffice it to say, my CDs now serve as approx. 250lbs of ballast in my living room stereo rack/center. 
       As a side note, I had a lot of fun doing this and did not really loose any money. Yes I spent more than expected, but IMHO it was not wasted.  Per, ghdprentice and many of the other more reasonable members of this forum, the DAC you select is very important, but so is every other part of your system.  Each component/IC/tweak matters and serves to further or hinder the sonic mission of every other component.  So, a lot of this depends on trial and error, and personal preference.
       Also, digitally, a lot can be done with relatively little money.  I put together an office/headphone system that consits of a Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra and Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 with a generic LPS and my prior Audezee LCD-1 HPs for about $1k.  This system was purchased pre-owned, piece by piece after much research on this forum and various audio reviews -- it sounds nearly as good as my main system as listed in my profile but does not as of yet nclude an amplifier and speakers or powered speakers.
ghdprentice
6,363 posts
 
In many ways the discussion is all about exactly the same audio stream, but how you chop it up and how many boxes you want to buy to get the music to your system.

All start with a computer file at a company that desires to sell it. They can copy that file to a CD, and sell the physical media, or put the files up for purchase through a download service, or put it on line for streaming.

As a consumer, we need a: transport (only if we buy CDs), a streamer, and a DAC before inputting it into our stereo. We can buy:

A CD player - physical transport, streamer, DAC
A CD transport - physical transport, streamer and separate DAC
A Streamer - internet receiver (with or without storage) and separate DAC
A single box internet receiver, streamer, DAC

It’s a question of how you get the files and how many box solution you want. The quality is all about the implementation of the solution you buy.




musichead's avatar
musichead OP
94 posts
 
@xrayz there is a Youtube video that I followed, basically separating some wires that are clipped together and putting some Dynamat on the inside of the lid and around the base where possible. It made the music tighter, slightly better tonality and darker backgrounds. Worthwhile IMO.
What's holding me back from the streamer route is my initial experience with a laptop. I burned lots of CD and used a few different programs working from my phone, it was convenient but I could never get the sound to be as good as my CXC transport. USB vs Coax connection? Did some investigation on how to improve the computer setup or what really needs to be done. Once enlightened I gave up. To many variables that need PS isolation. Noise seems to be the huge problem with digital. In theory a CD transport is more simple and less functions to isolate. In the end I just want to get the most out of my CDs and DAC.

Do transports impose a character to the sound or do they just get the most out of a DAC? the better the transport the better the DAC will sound? or do they impose a character? Someone wrote me saying the Proj-ect transport can be very transparent, analytical and cold? maybe it's just revealing the failing of CD?


ghdprentice
6,363 posts
 
Every component imposes an imprint on the sound.
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