CD tranports

When I bought my current transport (Arcam Delta 250) I loved it's smooth sound, which suited the brighter presentation of the other components I had at the time. The rest of the system has now moved on and it's time to think about a better transport I think. At a bake off not too long ago my Arcam was shown seriously wanting in comparson to a DPA transport (can't remember model), which really convinced me it was time for a change when I had the money. If I could find a DPA for sale at a sensible price I'd be very tempted, but a spot of nosing around the usual sites has so far drawn a blank (anyone spot one please let me know!).

I'm torn where to start with a replacement though. Normally I'd be looking second hand no questions, and my current transport was bought that way, but I'm a little reluctant to spend too much on an old transport that may not last too long, or possibly not even be sounding it's best. The alternative as I see it is to buy a fairly competant new player, for not too much cash, and look at getting it modded (by Trichord or whoever) into something better. What do people think? Any comments/suggestions gratefully received.

Cheers,

Martin

 

Martin how much do you wish to spend sir?

 

Still wondering that myself really, hence the rather vague question! Let's say up to £500 to give an idea, although any thoughts on what's reasonable to spend would be appreciated.

 

I saw what was claimed to be a new VRDS-15 today for around 400 notes.

 

Hmmm, interesting. A new VRDS mechanism machine is tempting. Anyone know if these are any good as a transport (it's an integrated CD player isn't it)?

 

Was there not a meridian 500 doing in the classifieds? that would be pretty nice.

 

Someone snapped it up. Just before my bid!

 

Meridian 500s do appear on ebay and hififorsale from time to time, so don't despair!

 

This may or may not be helpful but I have a Benchmark DAC1 which I have tried with everything from the fancy TAG DVD player thingy to an extremely old and cheap (broken, in fact - drawer was bent and wouldn't close without being pushed) Pioneer DVD player and it is absolutely immune to differences in the transport.

The Benchmark is only £770 in the UK and it is very good indeed. So perhaps you could look at changing the DAC instead.

Andrew

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but it doesn't have enough inputs I could use (I want 3 and I don't have anything with an AES/EBU out). I do plan longer term to look into a combined DAC/pre, as very soon I'll only have digital sources and this seems more sensible than using my (very nice) pre-amp purely as a volume control. For now I think a new transport is the way to go.

 

wadia 8 on audiogon $1500. sure WM can help if it stops working.

 

I would beg to differ Andrew on the benchmark I have 2 one modded and a stock one (If can find it lol), and trasnports make a serious difference, I believe one or 2 other forum memebers have reported the same

 

At lord summits bake off we used 2 transports side by side and the difference surprised everyone in the room! Especially Chris1968

 

Well I have heard cables making a big difference into it with the TAG transport (coaxial was useless, optical was fine) but in all other cases - including last week when I had 4 PFM forum members over here doing some comparisons - there was no discernable difference between my old Meridian 206 and the TAG (for example). This isn't surprising if it does what it claims to do in terms of jitter removal. Have you tried a double blind test?

Probably we just couldn't hear the difference because I'm using those hopelessly inaccurate and veiled active ATC speakers

Andrew

 

Ah, well that comes back to my initial question about going for an old player or maybe modding something cheaper?

 

Andrew,

I have 8 different transports ranging from £300 to £12k,( Teac T1,Art Audio V2, Meridain 500 MKI, Wadia 20/270se/861se/Acoutsic arts drive one and a good old Tosh 330 well tweaked (while all using the same cables & mains equipment) quite a significant range of results can be achieved. more so when the Benchmark is feed some decent power Wm

 

WM,

Here`s a few questions for you:
- When moving from transport to transport, do things just get better, or are they also "different"? What I mean by that is that comparing say Cyrus and Arcam is not question of which is best, more which do you prefer?
- Do you think there is any "levelling off" of transports, i.e. plateuing of ability. e.g. do all units based on VRDS transports sound the same, regardless of whether they`re in a Teac box, or a much more expensive Wadia box?
- From a value for money perspective, any recommendations?

 

Mike,
Some transports do give a 'certain presentation' that are recognisable with their home stable so to speak, some units are plainly 'further ahead' than others, in resolution, openiness and focus, some major on texture, richness and more body, while others are plainly more musical.
As for the VRDS, there are quite a few companies that use the drive as well as Wadia and teac, Levinson and Spectral spring to mind also.
They do all give a different sound. Implimentation is the key hear, not just the box Lol
Psu to the servo drive, and seperate digital output board powersuppiles, fully isolated from the main boards and drive/motor section, effective screening in key areas and the lay-out of the circuit design all play an important part.
Currently I'm looking into the bowles Teac UX-1 (the new multiformat player) with the latest generation of Teac mechanism.
Ux-1
When trying Transports out on my modified NOS dac (Fully Never-connected psu and custom umbilical and custom build cases), transport & cable differences are more apprant than on lot of dacs I've tried, the Meridain 500 MKII suits it well, the Art Audio V2 Naimifies, the teac is a little slow but addes presence and body,The Tosh does a fair stab in all honesty.
Its a case of trying a few Mike, and see if you like the differenices. Wm

 

this may be of interest, advertised on hififorsale.com:

THETA DATA BASIC 11 Price: £600 (RRP: £2300)

Description * *
One of the (few) great transports. Rolls Royce build quality, superlative proprietory jitter reduction circuitry, balanced and single ended outputs. Please check web reviews:superagile and weighty bass, great image depth, terrific musical drive, to complement the new generation of super-Dacs. Light use ( I bought a David for DVD etc) and mint, with original box, packing, remote, all immaculate
* * *
Email: [email protected]

This guy is based in Edinburgh and I went round to lend some Siltech cables and had a look at this very well built transport.

 

WM

Your observations are interesting but I cannot think of any reason for them to be true with the DAC1 if the Benchmark is as good as it says it is (and apparently measures) at reducing jitter. I can understand them being applicable to DACs which are susceptible to jitter.

Did you double blind test them (boring, I know)?

I have tried 4 different transports now, each with different mechanisms and they have all sounded pretty much identical except for the TAG's coaxial output which was obviously "broken" in some audio sense - possibly a signal ground issue. The transports have ranged in price from sub-£100 to over £2k.

Andrew