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Transport for a dCS Delius - HELP



Hey all - first post!

I just purchased a dCS Delius off of Audiogon last week. Suffice it to say - it's AMAZING!!! I was planning to use my current Proceed PCD3 as a transport for the Delius, but it started to malfunction shortly after I got the Delius (Murphy's Law?)... It's at my dealer for inspection / service right now, but now I'm looking at transport alternatives. At the moment, I'm stuck using a Nakamichi MB-2 to feed the Delius and hear a huge difference between it and the PCD3 (when it was working), so I know that there's more to a transport than just 1's and 0's... My 2-channel system is as follows:

-Proceed PCD3 used as a Transport
-dCS Delius used as DAC/Pre-Amp
-Threshold T200 Amp
-Thiel CS 3.6 Speakers
-Transparent Super/Ultra Cables

Originally, I was looking at a Proceed CDD or possibly a CEC TL-2, but now I'm reading about these new DVD/SACD/CD (such as the Philips 963sa) players out there. My question is, do any of these "combo" units truly compare to a good "CD only" transport for redbook audio playback? Since there is no video in my 2-channel system, the video aspect of the combo players means nothing to me. This would be purely a 2-channel audio transport. I just find it hard to comprehend connecting a consumer DVD player to a DAC like the Delius...

Are my speculations correct, or are these new combo units the real deal??? If any of you have made the comparison between a mid/high end dedicated CD transport and one of the combo players, I'd really enjoy hearing your feedback / opinion!
gtb75
kana813
956 posts
 
Gtb75- the $20.BG cap will help lower the power supply noise a bit, but if you plan to use the Philips as a transport, you should also replace the cheap
caps in the digital circuit path with N or NX series BGs.
A Bybee Purifier in series with digital output would also make a nice improvement.
rgd
656 posts
 
The 963 is a great little player for the money but as a transport its nothing special. I have one (with the BG in the ps) and recently swapped in my Sony DVP-S7000 as a transport - not even close. The Sony extracts so much more detail its not funny. But again I reiterate that the Philips is a great player for the buck.
gtb75 OP
6 posts
 
I'm not expecting the 963 to be the "ultimate" transport, but I'm hoping it's better than the Nakamichi MB-2 I'm stuck using while my PCD3 is out for service. I'd be very surprised if the 963 even ends up as good as the PCD3 sounded (when it was working)...

At the moment, I'm only going to do the cap in the power supply of the 963 and see what that yields. As I mentioned, my main goal in this experiment is to see what the upsampling can do with the Delius. I don't want to make a huge investment in the 963 until I can A/B it with my PCD3 when it's back from repair. Besides, I'd rather put the money towards a Proceed CDD (for the AES/EBU connection), Sony 777, or a dCS Verdi.

I guess that brings up another interesting question... Which of the following makes more sense to you all:

1. Invest $4000 to $6000 in a Verdi to connect directly to my Delius (don't have a Purcell).
2. Invest $3000 to $4000 in either a CDD or 777 AND a Purcell - again to connect to the Delius I already have.

I'm guessing that option 2 is going to give me more of a sonic benefit based on what I remember of the Purcell, but I'd be curious to hear what you all think...

Again, thank you all for your time and feedback!
infinity_audio
183 posts
 
You pretty much will move the 963 to your video system after playing with it. It plays okay as a sacd / upsampleing player but it's definitely not a well built unit to use as a good transport.
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