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.

128x128hilde45

Showing 4 responses by facten

I posted this on another thread :

Transports are not all the same SQ wise and will either hold back or release the potential of the DAC.

 

I'll further add, it's not about bling , expectation bias, status ranking, and the rest of the  commentary.  It's about the resulting SQ. Try them firsthand and decide for yourself .

 

 

 

Harley Lovegrove of Pearl Acoustics is known for designing speaker enclosures states that from his listening tests transports don’t matter.

You decide

 

 

Your cherry picking comments that simply support the video conclusion did it for you.

@hilde45  A few of us have mentioned that there is an improvement moving from the Cambridge CXC transport, which incidentally you have. Do you know anyone who is relatively nearby you who has a Jay’s, Simaudio, or Project CD transport , or a dealer who can let you test out a CD transport that is beyond the Cambridge? A firsthand assessment in your system would be much better to draw a conclusion from for yourself then cherry picking the comments in the thread that allow you to confirm the video narrative that you bought into. Also, it’s somewhat interesting that you ignore the fact that a DAC designer states that transports impact DAC’s but go with the non-direct knowledge of a friend who is in telecommunications since it "confirms" what you wanted to believe.