Using a lap top cd drive instead of highend cd player


I play cd's through my laptops on board cd drive to take advantage of my Audionote 3.1 DAC. To me it makes sense that this is as good or better than using a higher end CD player.  I would hazzard a guess that few cd players have a digital converter equal to my Audionote.

Or am I missing something here.


128x128pkvintage
The outputs of a transport are typically S/PDIF coax, USB, and optical.
But since the Audio Note is unique and may not have a USB or optical input (it’s offered as an option) RCA or BNC coax is used.

A CDP will have the same digital outputs as a dedicated transport, some have AES (XLR). A transport’s only job is to read the disc and clock the signal in the digital domain. It then sends a datastream to the dac where it is reclocked again. CDP’s have an analogue output stage to go to a preamp. This is bypassed when using it as a transport to a dac.

Excellent info from all. I have a Pioneer DVD DV 563A-S with 2 chanel audio rca's. It also has an optical and coaxial digital audio out. 

Would the Pioneer connect straight to my Dac via the coaxial or will my prodigy cube have to play a role in this?
The Pioneer would simply connect to the AN RCA input. I'm guessing that your dac has RCA and BNC inputs.
What coax cable are you using? The quality and length of the cable significantly influences sound quality.

The DAC has 1 coax in and R/L rca out to the preamp.
Canare LV-61S coaxial cable 1 meter