Yikes! Thanks for all the recent responses, but we seem to be straying more to the philosophical than practical side of my original question.
I understand no two components are going to "sound" exactly the same, even transports. But I'm still interested in whether "family traits" exist between VRDS, CDM Pro, Sony or belt-drive transport mechanisms that are somewhat transportable across brands.
For example, would a belt-drive C.E.C. which is reputed to be somewhat "lush/relaxed" be too much of a good thing for a tube-based dac like the Hermes II?
Or would a more "incisive/analytical" VRDS transport be a better match of yin and yang? (Or could I simply tune the sound with PCs and ICs to correct for any transport-dac imbalances...oh, the permutations!).
I know I'm characterizing things with a very broad-brush. And I'm not looking for posts like "you should try [insert name], it's great!" (which are easy enough to find by searching the archives).
But I'm still looking for some directional insights that would help me narrow the field (sorry if I'm being obtuse, but any advice would be greatly appreciated).
I understand no two components are going to "sound" exactly the same, even transports. But I'm still interested in whether "family traits" exist between VRDS, CDM Pro, Sony or belt-drive transport mechanisms that are somewhat transportable across brands.
For example, would a belt-drive C.E.C. which is reputed to be somewhat "lush/relaxed" be too much of a good thing for a tube-based dac like the Hermes II?
Or would a more "incisive/analytical" VRDS transport be a better match of yin and yang? (Or could I simply tune the sound with PCs and ICs to correct for any transport-dac imbalances...oh, the permutations!).
I know I'm characterizing things with a very broad-brush. And I'm not looking for posts like "you should try [insert name], it's great!" (which are easy enough to find by searching the archives).
But I'm still looking for some directional insights that would help me narrow the field (sorry if I'm being obtuse, but any advice would be greatly appreciated).