2. digital
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If the DAC is the same, how different do CD transports sound?

One interesting topic of discussion here is how audible the differences are between CD players when they are used as transports only — or when they are only transports to begin with.

In other words, in a comparison which keeps the DAC the same, how much difference can be heard between CD transports?

This recent video by Harley Lovegrove of Pearl Acoustics provides one test of this question. It may not be the ultimate test, but he does describe the experimental conditions and informations about the qualifications of the listeners.

He comes to the main conclusion here: https://youtu.be/TAOLGsS27R0?t=1079

The whole video is worth watching, I think.

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Showing 1 response by 2psyop

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2psyop
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Hey jasonbourne. I think the first consumer CD player was introduced by Sony in 1982. The CDP-101. I was in Germany at the time (in the US Army) and my buddy bought one at the post exchange. Also Philips (the co-developer of the CD player) introduced one as well. I actually bought the Hitachi brand, just like you did... but a little later.

Also I agree that if you find a quality integrated amp that can switch two digital sources and the listener does not know which one they are listening to, that might be a good way to test two players. I think any way you can do this with headphones might be an even better way to eliminate external noise.

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