There are a number of differences. And no, a DAC cannot eliminate anything coming out of the transport!!! The information extracted by the transport cannot be improved, any assertion otherwise demonstrates a gross lack of understanding of physics and mechanical engineering. That said, the quality of the actual transport mechanism can vary wildly. The Music Hall is an inexpensive player and uses lesser quality parts from start to finish. Also, isolation of the transport mechanism from transformer is a big culprit in degradation of the signal. Additionally, the quality of the coax port itself can have an effect. Build quality of the unit also impacts vibration. Lastly, all your connection points that are open allow digital distortion to enter the player. Toslink is always inferior to coax transmission. Quality of cable of course will impact. As you’ve experienced, the player/transport change impacted the sound. Remember, if the information from your source is comprised it will be down through the signal path by very definition. You can’t correct for what’s not there to begin with. Upgrade your transport if you hear a difference and you get to enjoy the music more. Remember, in the end it’s about the music! Best of luck.
Differences between cd transports?
Howdy,I borrowed a dedicated CD transport (Musical Fidelity) from a friend. I have found that music sounds much better with his transport than with the CD player I’ve been using to spin CDs. In both cases, I am using exactly the same DAC via the optical out connection from the transport and the CD player. So: is there any rational reason that, using the same digital to analog converter, one CD spinner should sound much better than another?Thanks!