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If you have a "kick booty" DAC, does the transport

really matter as it is just a "reader" correct. Am I over simplifying it. When you plug your player into an outboard DAC don't it bypass the internal dac and stuff and shoot it to the outboard? Isn't the laser just reading the 1010101 on the disc and shooting the data to the DAC? If this is true can't a Joe just get a whatever player with coax/i.r./esbu out and just invest in a high horsepower DAC?
mtandrews
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
My experience:
Had a separate DAC and transport. The DAC was an Adcom 700 and the transport a rotel stand-alone transport.
Then I bought a Sony SC777ES.
The Sony as transport via the same Adcom DAC totally blew away the Rotel transport in all areas.
I sold the Rotel and felt guilty asking money for it!!! The Sony as transport was that much better.
So, IMO yeah, the transport IS very, very important.
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
My DAC is pretty old, (Counterpoint DA-10a)....still, I could clearly hear the difference between the three players and one dedicated transport I have tried with it.

There would be cases I'd think where you may hear little or no difference for other reasons, ie...your system, or...the two transports are very equal in build...just guessing here?

To be honest, I was surprised myself. The player I had intended to use as a transport is a fairly heavy and well built Technics DVD A-10 that I had no other use for...a cheap little Pioneer wiped the floor with the Technics?

I'm now using an old Kinergetics dedicated transport...it added some meat to the bones that I thought was the Pioneers biggest weakness...kick drums, ect. now have the proper heft.

Dave
chadnliz's avatar
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
Like anything else here it will boil down to do you feel it WILL help, you may not hear a diffrence and it certainly wont be night and day....but maybe you will hear a better sound, or atleast think you do. I know guys that use Sony DVD players as transports and they sound awesome into a DAC.
chichiuno
118 posts
 
Yes it matters very much.
It all starts at the Extractment of the Data.
A DAC's limiting factor, is the quality of the data its fed.

Anthony
szutinglee
91 posts
 
in theory, a hard drive is just a high capacity disk fixed permanently in a transport, aside from differences in the data retrieval mechanism (laser) and buffer. almost all attributes of a state of the art transport should apply to a state of the art hard drive. imagine using an Esoteric/TEAC chasis and spinning mechanism plus the JVC/XRCD24 data transport process to create a hard drive...that would be one awesome sounding source!
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