Mods to Tag transport?

Hi everyone - first post on here, although I've been lurking for a while.

Looking for some advice from some of the modding experts - I'm running a Chord DAC 64 with a Tag CDT20R transport, which makes great sounds, but I'm curious to know how much more I could get out of the Dac, short of buying the new Blu transport, which is out of my price range for the moment. Does anyone know whether the Tag could be modded to improve its performance, and how/by whom? I'm aware of some of the Trichord mods, but would they make a significant difference to what is already a pretty good transport?

Cheers, SteveH

 

Steve, I wouldn't bother. The CDT20R is already an excellent transport and is regarded by many as one of the transports of choice for the DAC64. I was after one myself before I plumped for my (much cheaper, even after mods) Teac T1.

What digital connection are you using btw? Try using TOSLink - you might be surprised

There's at least one other person on the forum (SCIDB) who uses a CDT20R with a DAC64.

One of the problems with transport mods is that they necessarily take some time so it's impossible to do a proper before/after comparison. When you get your transport back after having some relatively costly (and not easily reversible) mods it's very easy to convince yourself there's been an improvement...

FWIW I had the mods done to my T1 before I'd ever listened to it, since my T1 only cost me £200 I thought doing the Trichord full monty on it couldn't hurt . Whether it actually improves anything I've no idea.

Michael.

 

Thanks for the reply Michael - I thought this topic might get your attention as a DAC64 connoiseur!

You've exposed my ignorance already - what's a Toslink connection? I'm currently using a (BNC terminated) Chord Company Digital Signature cable, which made a surprising difference compared to an LAT cable I had in there before - completely took away what little digital hash there was and made things sound a lot more "organic"; apparently the guy who designed the cable runs a DAC64 and basically designed it to be optimised for it.

I see your point on the "imagined changes" factor - maybe I'll sit tight and save up for the Blu, although reading SCIDB's review of it on here I'm wondering how much better than the Tag it actually gets.; I suspect a nice pair of Cremonas or similar to replace my Sonus Faber Grand Pianos might be a better use of the dosh!

 

Whatever you do, unless you have money to burn of course, don't get the Blu transport. There's just so much more you could do with £4.2K!

Toslink is the other name for optical cable. After playing around with many digital cables of all formats (RCA, BNC, XLR and optical) with my DAC64 I've found a £25 Ixos optical cable to be excellent. Other cables may have done some things differently but nothing did anything that was worth spending an extra £2-300 on. Optical connection is also the connection that Rob Watts (the designer of the DAC64) recommends.

It's worth a try and at worst it will only have cost you £20-30 if you end up not liking it.

Michael.

 

Hi,

You can have your CDT20R ugraded by Tag to the latest spec CDT20R-T2L. The following is from the tTag website:

16/7/99 - TAG McLaren Audio improves CDT20R CD Transport

Upgrades available for existing TAG McLaren and Audiolab owners

Investigations during the development of the TAG McLaren Audio Cable AvantGarde led to a project to improve the cd transport CDT20R to make the performance less affected by differences in digital interconnects. In addition performance gains found during the development of the Theatre AvantGarde av processor AV32R led to introduction of the TAGtronicâ„¢ Sync Link and enhanced sonic isolation for lowest possible jitter.

Existing owners of the TAG McLaren Audio CDT20R and the latest generation of Audiolab 8000CDM can have their transports upgraded by TAG McLaren Audio.

The CDT20R-T2L digital output has been improved with the addition of a new waveform control circuit to reduce the signal bandwidth requirement on the S/PDIF outputs. This reduces potential reflections within the cable and connectors, which in turn reduces jitter. Reducing jitter provides a clear and audible improvement in sound quality improving the tightness and control in the bottom end and reducing smear in the treble. TAG McLaren's specialist automotive electronics division designed the improved S/PDIF waveform control circuit using computer simulation. TAG McLaren Audio then confirmed the benefits by blind listening tests.

Ideally, the clock that controls the flow of digital data going to the DACs (Digital to Analog Converters) should be as close to the DACs as possible. In a traditional two box CD player the clock that controls this flow of data is in the transport. The clock is sent to the DAC down a digital cable along with the audio data making the clock very prone to jitter.

TAGtronicâ„¢ Sync Link is an additional connection between the new CDT20R-T2L and suitably equipped DACs, currently the Theatre AvantGarde AV32R av processor/dac. Sync Link allows the AV32R to control the flow of digital data from the CDT20R-T2L to allow the master clock in the AV32R to be fixed and very stable. This master clock is as close to the DACs as possible bringing a dramatic reduction of jitter with a commensurate increase in audio quality.

The final improvement is enhanced mechanical damping to the base of the chassis and the cover. This brings an additional improvement in low-level detail and general audio signal purity as it reduces further microphonic effects on the components and PCB, which also reduces jitter.

The CDT20R-T2L will be available in August at a price of £1499.95.

Existing owners of the TAG McLaren Audio CDT20R can have their transports upgraded by TAG McLaren Audio for a cost of £289.75 inc. VAT. Customers who purchased a CDT20R within the last six months will receive a 40% discount or within 12 months 20%.

Owners of the latest generation of Audiolab 8000CDM can upgrade their transport with the TAGtronic Sync Link and the enhanced sonic isolation. Due to the different electronics circuitry of the 8000CDM and the CDT20R the latest generation of waveform control circuitry cannot be included. Due to the added complexity of this upgrade it costs £275.00 incl. VAT.



I hope this helps,

Stu.

 

Oops - sorry Stu, I actually have the new version already, so nothing doing there - I was just too lazy to walk over to the hi-fi and check the whole name! Hope you cut and pasted all that....

Michael - no optical ouput on the Tag, so that's not an option, and as I say I have found the Chord cable fantastic.

I did try an optical cable (the same one you have I think) from my el cheapo Toshiba DVD player, and the sound from that was nowhere near as good as the Tag - another nail in the coffin for the "DAC64 immune to transport" argument for me. On that topic, the Tag definitely produced a slightly less "organic" (that word again) and weighty, but more detailed, sound than the Bow Wizard CD player I was feeding the Dac with until I swapped it for the Tag and a Rega P25 (good trade I thought), so it's obvious to me that transports do affect the DAC's sound quite a bit, which is why I'm curious about "hot rodding" the Tag.

Cheers, Steve

 

Steve,

Yep, I cut and pasted so no problems there.

By the way, I'm after a CDT20R-T2L so if you should decide not to upgrade it and go for something else, I have a good home for yours!

Stu.

 

Hmmm no, not really. I've only ever contended that the DAC64 was immune to transport differences when used with an optical cable. Comparing optical with one transport and RCA with another doesn't really tell us that much. That you preferred the Tag may just mean that the RF noise introduced into the DAC via the RCA/BNC cable had an effect which you found pleasing.

This really is one I believe should be put to a blind test

Michael.

 

Fair enough!

The "nail in the coffin" comment wasn't referring specifically to anything you or anyone else has posted on here BTW - I'm far too technically ignorant to even attempt to debate the theory with anyone, and apologies if it came across as agressively staking out a position!

Actually when I bought the DVD player and the optical cable I was hoping I wouldn't be able to hear a difference against the Tag, so I could flog the Tag and spend the money on something else - to me though the differences were night and day in almost all respects (timing, "slam", detail, soundstage height etc.), so I had to keep it! I take the point about not comparing like with like, although I would take a bit of persuading that what I heard as a big positive difference in favour of the Tag was actually an RFI problem.

I'll leave the blind testing to someone else if that's ok - too much music to enjoy!!

Cheers, Steve

 

The best attitude to have

Michael.