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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.

hilde45

Showing 1 response by westcoastaudiophile

westcoastaudiophile
467 posts
 

Yes, two different CD transports will sound different!

Any DAC clock recovering circuit has own problems, such as PLL overshot, BW, stability, phase margin, etc. Less clock impurities, aka jitter, in input signal will result in higher accuracy sound.

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