If you have a "kick booty" DAC, does the transport

Theoretically, that should be the case. However, practical experience tells us otherwise. I'll leave it to the "digit-heads" to try and explain a reason. All I can say is that I've tried multiple different transports using the same DAC and they do sound different.

Several times I've tried to consolidate my system by using a quality DVD player as the transport for video and to feed an outboard DAC for 2-channel. I never could get it to match the performance of any of my other CD only transports.

I'm sure there are some good inexpensive transports out there, I just haven't heard one yet. There was a <$100 Aiwa changer a few years ago that got great press. Also, there was a <$20 used NEC multispin CD-rom drive was said to be very good.

Enjoy,

TIC

I've always been of the opinion that if a transport really does make a huge difference, then we need to move rapidly to a different read/transport mechanism than the traditional transport. Reading from digital media and delivering to a high quality DAC should be a straight-forward, extremely reliable process.

I've always been very satisfied with Sony DVD players as transports, but drive most of my music from a music server with a digital output now. Once ripped from the CD to the HD, getting the information off the disc and out the digital output should be error free. If you use a USB DAC, then the USB interface introduces synchronized clocking and two-way communication which, again, should allow for error free transfer. If it didn't work reliably, then you wouldn't be successful using USB ports to transfer data to an external HD, or camera, or whatever.

I will admit to never spending much time experimenting with different transports or digital cables - the bit of experimenting I did do didn't yield many differences of any magnitude, and it was clear to me that digital source would gravitate to HD-based systems, at least for me. Maybe transports and/or cables make a difference - I still wouldn't spend any extra money on a dedicated transport at this point.

Does the transport really matter? In my experience, yes, at least as much as the DAC itself. Even with a jitter-reduction box in between, and a balanced connection, and extensive power conditioning all around. And my admittedly limited experience has been that the mere fact of taking the data off a hard drive, rather than disk, is no panacea or guarantee of superior results either. Every change to the digital front end I've tried was clearly heard at my ears, including digital interconnects, power cords, and transports/players. But my Theta DAC was a hot ticket 10 years ago, and while my tests during interim have comforted me that it's not obsolete by my own standards, take my observations for what they're worth in light of your definition of "kick-booty". Still, if transports didn't matter today, then why would the world's latest and greatest disk-playing gear continue to place a premium on their functional integrity?