Music Servers VS Excellent Transports?

I am new to this area and was wondering if someone can provide a brief explanation as to the differences between using:

Slim Devices Transporter
Modright's version of Slim Devices Transporter
Wavelength Audio USB DAC
Empirical Audio's products (PaveCar, Turbo, etc.)

My digital front end is an ARC CD2. I thought that upgrading to another stand alone CDP or Transport/DAC combo was the only way to go for audiophile quality sound until I stumbled onto this forum.

I have been reading this forum incessantly for the last couple of days trying to come up to speed on this alternative. From what I surmize, these three company's seem to be offering different implementations of the same basic solution, which is having a Hard Drive based PC front end. What I am trying to understand is how they differ from one another and what the pro's/con's might be.

I will also be attending CES/THE Show in January and would welcome any information on "shoot outs" or A-B demo's that are being scheduled in this arena.

Let me try to give you a hand. Here is a high level overview

Transporter: The key thing that distinguishes the Slim products is that they are designed to be network devices that live on Ethernet and/or WiFi networks. This means that they have the ability to "talk" back to the computer - more specifically they offer remote access to the hard drive so you can select songs from whatever room you happen to be in without going back to the room in which the computer is located. (You can also pause the music, skip, repeat, initiate shuffle etc through the remote.)

The Transporter is a massively upgraded "audiophile" version of the Squeezebox. Sean Adams, the CEO/Founder of SLIM is the designer of both units. SLIM was recently purchased by Logitech. SLIM maintains a very active user forum on their site.

Modwright Transporter: The analog output stage is heavily modified by Dan Modwright, one of the premiere modders in the country. Functionally it is the same as a stock Transporter. Theoretically (I haven't heard it) this should elevate the Trsnsporter to the same level of refinement as the best USB DACs while maintaining all the (unique) benefits of a network device - at a lower price.

You should also be aware of Wayne Waananen at Bolder Cables who did a lot of the pioneering work on Squeezebox modification, elevating those units to an "audiophile" level though they are not constructed to the standards and functionality of the Transporter.

Wavelength USB DACs: In contrast to the SLIM devices, the Wavelength units are connected to the computer via USB. This means that you must be at the computer to control the song selection and transport functions. Theoretically USB cables are limited to 15' in length after which a repeater is needed. This is because USB carries 5v to power the device it connects to. This limitation can be worked around by using a Opticis Fibre Optic USB cable which requires a power supply at the receiving end since fibre will not carry a 5v signal.

What distinguishes the Wavelength products is that they go directly from USB to I2S, skipping the SPDIF stage. I2S is an electrical serial bus interface standard used for connecting digital audio devices together. It is a much more robust format then SPDIF that does not induce jitter. Wavelengths are designed and built by Gordon Rankin who is one of America's premiere analog audio designers (pres and amps) Gordon is a frequent poster on Audio Asylum's PC Forum and also has a basic but very helpful site addressing this technology.

You will see more and more USB DACs in the market (Scott Nixon was the first, Paradisea, Benchmark and Apogee are others).

Empirical Audio: Steve Nugent is an ex-Intel engineer who became known for his efforts on eliminating the jitter inherent in the SPDIF circuitry. He also mods some gear to go USB to I2S, and this year introduced his own USB DAC.

At least on the Mac side, USB and Ethernet/WiFi DACs can share one database - meaning that they can both access the same library - simultaneously.

Steve is a frequent poster on both the Gon and Asylum, he goes by the handle audioengr

Hope this helps - keep reading.

Sydsrig - no formal shootouts scheduled that I'm aware of. Most manufacturers will not do this, although I'm game.

Empirical Audio gear can be heard at THE Show St. Tropez #1203. Our converter technology will also be exhibited in the DEQX room at Alexis Park #1512 and the Hovland room at Venetian 29-333.

Wavelength will be at Venetian 30-325.

Logitech (slim devices) has a booth in the convention center.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Sydsrig,

I have the Wavelength Crimson and get great impact and dynamics out of the bass with my unit. Perhaps its the Levinson 33H amps driving Wilson 8s with a Watchdog II sub.
Like David, I would sell the DAC if it had flacid heavy bass.

David has great equipment so its hard for me to explain why he was not getting the bass he expected at the price of this unit.

Linn has just come out with two interesting pieces, the Klimax DS and Akurate DS, both of which are D/A converters that have nothing but an Ethernet input. Your music is streamed to the DS from your computer or NAS. Sound quality is said to be better than Linn's Sondek CD12. I haven't heard one yet, so we'll see if they are really that good.

A couple of disagreements:

1. No CD playback can equal the sound of the best vinyl.

2. It is very difficult to equal the sound of the best CD transports/players with a computer/hard drive/server as the source- harder than some make it sound in this thread.