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Upsampling/Advice on Transport

After reading Sam Tellig's piece in the Feb. stereophile, I've decided that I want to take the plunge into upsampling via the MSB Link DAC. Unfortunately, my current CD player (Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1) doesn't have digital outputs, and so I will need to get a transport. His article implies that the quality of the transport is virtually irrelevant (he even used a Radio Shack portable and got the same results), because part of his suggested system is a Monarchy Audio Digital Interface Processor, which acts as a jitter reducer. So here is my question: in order to get the best sound, do I need to spring for an expensive transport, or will any consumer-grade CD player with digital outputs do the trick. Opinions?
miguelk
miguelk OP
4 posts
 
Yes, Dekay...that changes the equation a bit.
sgmlaw
76 posts
 
I have found that all else being equal, better transports sound better than cheap ones - that's the easy part. That being said, I'm not sure I would invest in a new transport with the current evolving state of digital. You may be better off buying a more modest used 16 bit transport and doing what you can with D2D products such as a DIP or PT P-1A until the next generation of universal transports emerge. I know that the new generation of upsampling DACs really stomp older ones like those found in the SF player. However, it's also important to have a strong analoge output stage - something often overlooked in today's frenzy of new DACs. The MSB may not measure up to the SF in that respect. With the cheaper DACs, I have seen this manifested as a more detailed but ultimately "thinner" sounding presentation.
eldragon
707 posts
 
I'll take your SFCD-1, for my Linn Karik II transport/CD player. It will spare me a temptation and $$ on getting a DAC myself. And my wife will sure appreciate that.
usblues
1,216 posts
 
Stan Warren's mail address?For that Aiwa upgrade would be appreciated.Thanks,Bob
mwp7373
29 posts
 
I'm no expert, but based on what I've read, it seems that the digital output from a CD transport contains 3 signals: left, right, and clock. While the bit transfer of the left and right channels is essentially perfect, even with an inexpensive transport/player, the clock signal is "fragile" and subject to inducing jitter. I use a jitter filter, and plan to add an upsampling DAC in the near future. Presuming all 3 signals are corrected fully within a good quality digital filter (I use the Camelot Dragon 5.1,) it seems the weakest link might actually be the digital cable (which can throw off the clock signal) between the jitter filter and DAC. This leads to a problem, as jitter errors are so small (yet plainly audible) that nobody's figured out a means to test for them accurately. However, compared to interconnects and speaker cables of audiophile quality, even the most expensive (and presumably most stable) digital cables are priced reasonably. I'm going to try one of the higher priced digital cables, and compare it with the "standard-fare" digital cables I'm now using. I'll try to post my impressions here in the near future.
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