ModWright Transporter

I considered this but could not find enough comparisons between the MW and stock to warrant belief that it is indeed better. Different, probably. But different does not equate to better, just different.

Unless updated since I read it, the 6moons review has one obvious hole in it, and that is they did not compare it to the stock TP. Obviously they liked it, and that's fine... but for a 2x premium I for one would like to know what the improvements are.

The SlimDevices forum has some extensive discussion on both sides of this coin. It would be worth a trip there IMO.

I have and enjoy the TP very much btw. No, I have not heard the MW and unless I can get an audition unit I am not about to spend $4K to find out it may or may not be better FOR ME than the stock TP. AFAIK Dan does not offer a money-back deal. Of course that is his prerogative and business model and that's fine.

But many other companies with bright ideas are open to home auditions... RedWine, Zu, NuForce come to mind right away, and I own equipment from all of these. Of course there are likely many others who supply free or low cost (say just shipping) home auditions. This very availability instills confidence in the buyer's mind and opens up a world of discussion possibilities.

To explain that last line above, it seems pretty much the only people who have heard the MW are current owners and maybe a reviewer here and there. Even these, we do not know if they have heard both but it seems unlikely. The nature of humans in general and us audiophiles in particular is that we will praise that which we have a vested interest in.

All of the above to say that I do not consider the MW TP to be a wise choice for someone who has not carefully heard both versions, unless finances are not much of an issue.

Shazam: "I went to the Slim Devices boards and read enough to see that for many people there wasn't a significant difference between the SqueezeBox 3 and the Transporter - even on a good hi-fi."

I own both the SB3 and TP. YES, the TP is better, and to me, it is worth the difference when you consider the ergonomics, the power supply, the digital inputs, the flexibility and last but not least, the sound. Keep in mind that people pay from $100 to omigod for a fancy power supply for the SB3 alone.

And then there is still the DAC to contend with. While the SB3 is a killer for the money and an easy recommendation for the impecunious audiophile, spending into TP territory does provide noticeably better performance. I generally try to avoid the audiophile vocabulary so I hope you won't ask me to use that, but accept that IMO there is enough difference. Both units are bone stock as I am not much of a believer in mods anyway. I do use a nice VH power cord with the TP though.

To round off the argument (in my mind anyway) about the comparison between mod and stock, and yes I will resort to the ubiquitous automobile analogy here, it's like C&D reviewing say a modded Corvette without much reference to the factory stock one. It just won't fly (or even take a corner!) I am a sometimes reader of 6moons, less frequent than I used to be but have picked up some great ideas from there (eg, Zu), but I do believe that this time old Srajan left something on the altar of journalistic integrity or at least standards.

Jamnperry, congrats from me also. It is clear you are happy and I daresay anyone in your situation would be equally happy.

For someone like me though, I'd still want both units on hand for an even comparison, and I would want to not be financially pre-vested in the result (ie, whichever I prefer, it doesn't cost me more than simply the purchase of the preferred product).

By "your situation" above, I meant (1) you were already a MW customer (indicating you had belief in the concept) and (2) you had already spent the money on the TP mod, which *for some people* leads to an expectation that the result of spending the money is positive, and expectation leads to perception, correct or not.

I would love to be able to appear on this forum and say I compared the two in my room with my gear with plenty of opportunity to switch back and forth, without outlay and preferred the MW. Or preferred the stock TP, whichever. But the environment as it is allows one to evaluate the stock TP risk-free, but not the MW.

As a side comment, this audiophilia is a strange disease, in that it makes us want what our peer describes without any concrete reason to believe that it will work the same way for us. Of course, over the years I've been in this hobby, I have been plenty guilty of this myself, but I like to think I am a little more cognizant of my own emotions now, which hopefully leads to a more rational decision, one that is made based on MY environment. This includes but is not limited to: budget, tastes, room, gear, WAF, hearing acuity, type of music preferred, type of presentation preferred, and so on. A quick review and understanding of this list should make it clear that, given the possible permutations, NO ONE can be sure of what a given component will deliver based on someone else's description of it. As such, I read reviews nowadays as entertainment, not unlike light fiction.