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CD Transports

Greetings. I am setting up a second system for the basement and am using a 1978 Sherwood receiver. At first I was going to just use the turntable with it and play the tuner occasionally but then thought I'd like to play some CDs. In my main system I have a Rega Apollo R hooked up to an Exogal Comet/Ion. Clearly I don't need the DAC in the Rega so I reasoned that it may be better to transfer the unit to the basement and get a transport, namely the Cambridge Audio CXC, for the upstairs primo set-up. Does that sound reasonable? The CD format is moribund so I don't see the point of getting a top dollar one--most of my CDs are ripped on the laptop and I just kept some rare European favorites. I was also tempted to buy a 1995 Marantz CC 45 5-CD player for the basement, but it is probably not such a great performer. Do I reason correctly that the CXC is my best option? I think the DAC in their Topaz player is not as good but that sounds like a decent player too. Thanks for advice. rt
128x128rtorchia

Showing 3 responses by geoffkait

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
The trouble is that for virtually all CD transports the damage is done prior to sending the digital data to the DAC. The damage is done within the first Picosecond as soon as the laser tries to read the physical data on the disc. Garbage in garbage out šŸ” šŸ¤—
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Yes, Iā€™m aware you donā€™t feel as though you experience scattered light. Youā€™re used to it. You would be aware of it by its absence. Same goes for seismic type vibration. You get used to the distortion/noise. Most people believe the CD laser is monochromatic and many believe itā€™s red. So what else is new? Enjoy the music šŸŽµ
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
ā€œBuilt like a tankā€œ transports have some rather serious flaws, at least most of them do. Scattered CD laser light gets into the photodetector as noise, external vibration distorts the signal, induced vibration (e.g., transport mechanism and transformer) and the fluttering of the disc forces the laser servo feedback system to produce errors that canā€™t be corrected.
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