The road to a Chord DAC 64 etc

Originally posted by Robbo
Despite the theory, perhaps the DAC64 isnt transport independant
after all.........
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Well, in my experience, it IS transport independent - at least when using an optical cable. Even when using coax cables I found the differences to be subtle at best..

Must be all those bit read errors.
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Provided we're talking about the output from the transport and not what might go on inside it beforehand, bit read errors are non-existent in any transport. The only exception is really badly scratched CDs but then that gives rise to audible glitches and isn't something that affects the overall "sound" of a transport (not that transports have a "sound" when using the DAC64).

Michael.
 
Re: Hmmm - the plot thickens!!

Originally posted by steveh
Well, as promised in my post last night, in a spirit of fair minded enquiry I hooked up the Toshiba again, and did it sound "clearly worse" as I remembered? Errr - no - in fact at first blush it sounds identical - score 1 to Michael and egg on my face!
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Great news Steve! What connection did you use to hook up the Tosh?

Michael.
 
I would just make a general note of caution. Live with the sound for a period in both configurations before you make up your mind. These things can be both subtle and yet you can come to feel they are 'playing in different leagues' (or not) after a good while. I know this sounds contradictory but this is how I felt when deciding which of two CD players to keep once.
 
Provided we're talking about the output from the transport and not what might go on inside it beforehand, bit read errors are non-existent in any transport. The only exception is really badly scratched CDs but then that gives rise to audible glitches and isn't something that affects the overall "sound" of a transport (not that transports have a "sound" when using the DAC64).
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I was being facetious!
 
Originally posted by SteveC
I would just make a general note of caution. Live with the sound for a period in both configurations before you make up your mind. These things can be both subtle and yet you can come to feel they are 'playing in different leagues' (or not) after a good while. I know this sounds contradictory but this is how I felt when deciding which of two CD players to keep once.
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I couldn't agree more, and I won't be doing anything hasty, although having experienced the "night and day" effect when bolting the DAC64 onto a £3.5k CD player these things aren't always subtle - that really was a case of "where did all the music come from"?

I'll use the Toshiba as my regular transport for the next couple of weeks, with the odd switch back to the Tag, and see how I feel after that.

Michael - the optical connection (obviously :) )
 
I'm being a good boy here, I know of a gent that has used EXclusively, the toslink only between various transports, and he CAN hear a noticeable difference also.
Me, I'm deaf, and they also sound the same to me :)
 
What have I started!!

Michael/Steveh etc

Thanks for your help and pointers. As I said in my first post I was struggling to hear a major diference between the Rega Jupiter and the altogether more modest Arcam cd72,used as transports, and that was not via optical. So I'd worked out that transports, whilst still an issue where perhaps not a critical one. At home I have the cd72, an old Marantz CDR (1st generation) and a marantz dvd. When the amps arrive, and more importantly when the cats return my optical cables I will do a full compare and contrast.

Whilst mucking around this weekend I could spot very little (if any) difference between a Prodac (should that be prozac??0 and a vdh cable.

cheers


timbo
ps scidb how did you get on with the optical cable, or did you bother??
 
Hi Timbo,

I didn't get round to playing with the optical link. I got sided tracked getting through a load of vinyl that I bought & playing with my new toy. A Nakamichi DR2 cassette deck.

I'm off work tomorrow (due to some vandal smashing my car windscreen), so I plan to get through some cds. I'll give it a good go.

stay tuned.


SCIDB
 
Inspired by this thread I took the optical cable from my ancient Marantz CD10 and plugged it into my shiny new Pioneer DVD player. Both were warmed up as was the DAC64 but did they sound the same? Well, I only had half an hour to listen but if there are differences they certainly are not huge. Unlike trying the same experiment with my lovely new SuperDac - immediately noticable difference between CD10 and DVD used as transport. More playing required on the weekend.
 

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