Modwright Transporter VS Opera Droplet 5.0 CDP.

I have not heard the Droplet, so cannot comment there, but the MWTP is an outstanding digital front end and would be very stiff competition. If you went that route you could use any decent transport through the DAC section of MWTP. I use an Oppo with excellent results. I have a few friends with MWTP's. I have heard it there head-to-head with an Electrocompaniet EMC-1UP, as well as two DACs (MHDT Havana, Empirical Modded Northstar via Pacecar) . The MWTP sounded better in all three comparisons, and my friend sold his EMC and now uses an inexpensive Oppo as through an Empirical Pacecar as a transport. Another friend (TVAD) thought his Esoteric X03 edged out the MWTP by a small margin in slightly superior resolution. Perhaps he'll chime in here. I sold my Modwright Platinum Signature Sony player when I got my TP because the TP sounded better and was more versatile making the player an expensive redundancy. Disclaimer: Dan Wright is a client of mine. You can also find a whole lot of input on tube rolling in the MWTP on the Modwright Audiocircle forum under the thread on that subject, which is very long (I can save you some reading if you want the Cliff Notes version). The tube choice does make a big difference, and the current hyper-mod to the power supply also is a very nice upgrade (I believe this is on all the current production MWTP's but check me on that). The TP also adds the versatility of streaming various Internet music sources, like Pandora, and online radio stations.

The short version,Swamp, is this:

Two favorite rectifiers are the EML 5U4G Mesh, which I'm using, and the Mullard High Wycombe GZ37 (NOS). A few folks like the usual suspects 5AR4/GZ34 variants but the majority is with the EML mesh. I found 5AR4's to lack some body/weight when I tried them.

If you stick with 9-pin signal tubes the RCA 6CG7 cleartops get the knod. Better still get a octal adapter from Boulder Cable or Jim Cross and use 6SN7 variants. The cream of that crop are the pricey Tung Sol rounds. Others are having very good results with the Russian military version of that tube (Grant can speak to this end) which are cheaper than the TS rounds and pretty close in performance I'm told. A further possibility recently being explored by some seeking a "cheaper" TS round is using a Loctal adapter and 7SN7's. No direct experience there but my friend just picked up the goods so I'll post if I hear anything soon.

There'll be a quiz later on...

Marco

You bet - I don't think it's really a hijack - more an addendum as that info goes a long way in MWTP considerations.

and in my system, the EML 5U4G and Tung-Sol 6SN7GT round plates have produced the best sound.

This has been my experience as well. This is the combination I'm using.

For the record, I'm running wireless from two stories above my base station (in my basement). Like Grant, I have a repeater (Airport Express) in the same room with my MWTP and have not had any problems at all with dropouts or timeouts, rebuffering, etc. That's not to say they're not unheard of, just simply that I haven't had it come up for me. A possible runaround is to wire your network via Ethernet. I know in Grant's case this is impractical, as it is with my own setup. Reports are that a wired connection is slightly better than via wireless. The wireless sound on my system is excellent, and it is my digital reference as well. I'm baffled by Grant's connection problems as well. The only thing I could think of was that it could be wireless interference where he lives (I think the TP runs on a frequency similar to some older portable phones). No doubt it is very frustrating.

For the OP's benefit - you may want to go over to the Audiocircle Modwright forum and ask there if anyone using the MWTP has compared with the Droplet and can comment on that comparison.

Did you try the Audiocircle Modwright threads? Try posting your question there.

here's a fairly recent thread with limited comparisons of the MWTP to Vinyl.