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Transport - does it matter to the sound at all?

I wanted to start this thread, to gain some insight into peoples experiences on this subject.
My view: From the outset of CD and digital media, we were force fed the view that 'its digital so always sounds the same whatever' ideology. Remember the jam on the cd, and it doesn't skip. Since these naive beginning we quickly found out it did matter, and the quality of components, interconnects (its wire isn't it so doesn't affect the sound?) and design DID affect the sound. So I firmly believe that a transport does affect the signal quality and final sound output in a big way. There are transformers, capacitors, boards, wires, all the components that have such a bearing on quality output on all the other components in a system. And the motor, the bearings, the transport mechanism, jitter correction, noise, damping, vibration from itself and speaker interaction ALL will affect the sound.

My question, what are the views on this balance between cost on a DAC and the transport. Are many of us getting it wrong bolting on Sony DVD players to high quality DACs? And are many of the 'quality transports" out there just re-boxed philips units. It does appear very few manufactures build their own transports aka Meridain, Linn and Naim to mention a few.

It would be great to see a high quality transport kit out there, which would allow a full transport and kit DIY project, with mods and part upgrades available at an affordable price.

I haven't the money at present to upgrade my DAC, which is an upgraded Audio Note DAC 1.1 and Zero transport, but I am very happy it at the moment as it was a huge jump over oversampling units I had owned previously.
astrostar59
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Seandtaylor99 - I have customers with these. I have to hear it to believe it.

I've heard a true reclocker, my own Pace-Car. It is still in debug, but amazing sound.

Steve N.
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
Thanks for the reply. An additional feature of the Genesis (and the 518, which is a dual PLL, not a true reclocker) is the ability to add dither, and play with the word length. With my limited DSP background dither would appear to be a very interesting possibility, especially since most modern DACs are 18/20 or 24 bit, so the dither can easily be added without reducing the original word length.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Right, I never said the DIP eliminated jitter, I'm sure it can only reduce it. Its low price shouldn't be held against it, and appears very well made inside (though could be better shielded -- what it radiates makes it necessary to keep it a safe distance away from my phonostage). It's widely regarded as effective with independent test measurements to back it up. It does have iso trannies on the inputs and outputs. The "24/96" version I own uses the CS8427 chip for the PLL, not a SRC, and reclocks. Steve says that a completely effective unit doesn't exist, except maybe his own which isn't for sale yet, so I can't feel too badly about taking advantage of the cost-effective DIP. And if that's true, then it should also be true that there's no box out there which can render the differences between transports unimportant, which was my main point, the question of whether jitter alone is really the whole story aside.
jsadurni
210 posts
 
Seandtaylor99: What the Genesis does is a buffer, the data is read and sent out the buffer which then reclocks it, this approach is used in modern DVD transports which also buffer and even get to re-read the tracks before playing them: been there done that, a good transport beats it hands down IMHO, If you want to believe you can do with a DVD player and justify it with mental fabrications its fine, just leave my immense ignorance out of this.

Adding an external jitter device with extra cables creates more jitter, a theory I would be comfortable with would be a one box player with a great transport, separate power supplies, a very good clock, and the DAC inches away from transport and clock…theory; my ears tell me a good transport and DAC is already very good!

Steve: I admire how you really stand behind the products you manufacture, cheers!
seandtaylor99
1,262 posts
 
Zaikes ... I also use a Monarchy DIP. I wasn't critcizing your choice. It's a great product for the price.

Jsadurni, "brute force and ignorance" is a term for using over-specified products to achieve an end. I was not accusing you of being ignorant.
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