Transport for a dCS Delius - HELP




Hey all - first post!

I just purchased a dCS Delius off of Audiogon last week. Suffice it to say - it's AMAZING!!! I was planning to use my current Proceed PCD3 as a transport for the Delius, but it started to malfunction shortly after I got the Delius (Murphy's Law?)... It's at my dealer for inspection / service right now, but now I'm looking at transport alternatives. At the moment, I'm stuck using a Nakamichi MB-2 to feed the Delius and hear a huge difference between it and the PCD3 (when it was working), so I know that there's more to a transport than just 1's and 0's... My 2-channel system is as follows:

-Proceed PCD3 used as a Transport
-dCS Delius used as DAC/Pre-Amp
-Threshold T200 Amp
-Thiel CS 3.6 Speakers
-Transparent Super/Ultra Cables

Originally, I was looking at a Proceed CDD or possibly a CEC TL-2, but now I'm reading about these new DVD/SACD/CD (such as the Philips 963sa) players out there. My question is, do any of these "combo" units truly compare to a good "CD only" transport for redbook audio playback? Since there is no video in my 2-channel system, the video aspect of the combo players means nothing to me. This would be purely a 2-channel audio transport. I just find it hard to comprehend connecting a consumer DVD player to a DAC like the Delius...

Are my speculations correct, or are these new combo units the real deal??? If any of you have made the comparison between a mid/high end dedicated CD transport and one of the combo players, I'd really enjoy hearing your feedback / opinion!
gtb75

Showing 1 response by kana813

Gtb75- the $20.BG cap will help lower the power supply noise a bit, but if you plan to use the Philips as a transport, you should also replace the cheap
caps in the digital circuit path with N or NX series BGs.
A Bybee Purifier in series with digital output would also make a nice improvement.