What CD Transport with TacT DAC ?

Kenyonbm-

Suggest you join the yahoo TacT forums. There's been a lot
of discussion on the SqueezeBox.

I agree the TacT RCS benefits from feeding it with a low jitter transport or digital source.

Yes, the 2.0S will benfit from a good power cord and power conditioning. You don't have to spend a lot of money on a power cord, just may sure it's shielded.

Upgrading the power supply in the 2.0S will make a much bigger improvement than any power cord or digital cable. There are a number of other RCS performance upgrades,including the DAC card, see www.mauimods.com
for more information.

Cables seem to be somewhat system/user dependent, but I can tell you some of my favorites.

I'm presently using a balanced Stealth Sextet AES/EBU and a HT Cyberlight RCA, which are the best I've used in my system. Both present a great sense of ease that I've not heard with any other cables, but they may be more than you want to spend.

For AES/EBU, other cables I really like are the FIM/CRL Gold and the Sonoran Plateau Lambda Digital. They are both warm, smooth and full through the mids with good detail, PRAT and slam. The Sonoran is quite similar to the CRL, but slightly less refined, but also cheaper and easier to use. I also liked the AQ Hawk, but it was a bit leaner and to the detailed side. A Straightwire Infolink is a good budget-beater option.

With RCA, I've also liked the Concierto Violin, HMS Il Primo, Kimber, Von Gaylord, Argent and the Ridge Street Poiema !! The Concierto Violin is is my fave here, but it's a little more lively and forward than the Cyberlight. The Ridge Street is also quite good for the price, esp with their frequent sales, but is slightly toward the lean and detailed side.

With the Lens, I've also tried over a dozen Power cables, and really like the ones from Concierto, Cerious, K-Works and the VH Airsine. The Concierto Violin is probably my fave, with the best balance of warmth, smoothness, detail and presence. But there is a slight transformer hum from my Lens that is most reduced by the K-Works, which is quite good on digital and reasonably inexpensive.

Massimobar and Richards, thank you both for your ideas.

Richards, I gather from your comments, that the TacT unit performs up sampling so there is no need to have a up sampling transport. This makes sense to me. I'm using a Levinson 39 with a cheapo balanced abs/ebu cable. Any suggestions on cabling?

I have only had the 2.0S two days, but I really like it. I really like being able to measure and control my system rather than guessing and hoping.

For my first project, I have programmed my own correction curve. Any ideas where I can find guidance on how to use the vast potential of this thing? Some of my questions are: since you can create you own correction curve, what does parametric equalization add?, or user settable tone controls? why would I want to invert just one channel? how do you interpret the dual domain screen?

The documentation is pretty thin when you consider the complexity.

I have found the users group at Yahoo.

I am also going to try using a SqueezeBox II and my computer as a source. I'll keep you posted.

The Tact doesn't require anything special in a transport. From the Tact website:

"Lower sampling rate formats such as CD and DAT are upsampled with the highest quality sample rate converter at the input so that DA conversion can take place at 192 kHz. "

These are user-selectable. The Toslink only does up to 96, though.
So, get as good a transport as you can afford, and don't skimp on the digital cable (I've found this as important as the transport--my digital cable actually costs more than my transport). With my Tact, I've used transports from Micromega, Tascam and a couple modified Sonys.

The Empirical-modded Sony 7700 is my current reference. I also use a Genesis Digital Lens between the transport and Tact. It lowers jitter and really makes a difference. It can be set to upsample to 20-bit output, and add dither, if you want (I like the sound this way).

You can consider other jitter boxes, such as the Sonic Frontiers, which upsamples to 24/96 and send that to your Tact. I tried one in my system and actually preferred the upsampling being done by the Tact instead, but YMMV. I also used a Camelot, but ultimately settled on the Lens. Or you can get an upsampling transport like the Northstar, but I think if it came to a choice I'd recommend the Lens.

Good luck. The Tact is some great (and underappreciated) equipment. Consider a good power cord and isolation, as, as most digital gear, these are sensitive and responsive areas.

Good luck

Hi Kenyonbm, I recently purchased also a Tact 2.0S, and at the same time changed source from TEAC P700 transport to a TEAC P30; differences are clearly udible, that means that Tact is a good D to A converter (it is a room correction device firts of all!!!).
I suppose Tact makes an upsamplng to 24/192 for all inputs (I am not sure), so the frequency output of cdplayer is not the most important fact; better an "old" 16/44.1 from a good cd player than a "new" 24/192 from an anonymous cd player... and don't forget: digital output stages are not all identical (usually in a cd player they are not good as a cd transport...).
Good listening
Massimo