This is a fantastic thread with very good posts! I've learned a lot just reading through the responses. This is of great interest to me because I am considering upgrading my Musical Fidelity Elextra E60 CD player by adding an anti-jitter device like the Monarchy DIP and a Bel Canto DAC 1.1. One question though. Is the length of the digital cable as critical as I've heard some people say? I've heard that 1 meter is the absolute shortest run that can be used without adding too much jitter.
Upsampling/Advice on Transport
After reading Sam Tellig's piece in the Feb. stereophile, I've decided that I want to take the plunge into upsampling via the MSB Link DAC. Unfortunately, my current CD player (Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1) doesn't have digital outputs, and so I will need to get a transport. His article implies that the quality of the transport is virtually irrelevant (he even used a Radio Shack portable and got the same results), because part of his suggested system is a Monarchy Audio Digital Interface Processor, which acts as a jitter reducer. So here is my question: in order to get the best sound, do I need to spring for an expensive transport, or will any consumer-grade CD player with digital outputs do the trick. Opinions?