What CD Transports Provide the Most Detail?


Hi,

I recently purchased a used PS Audio PerfectWave transport that replaced an eight year old, Philips based, AudioSpace CD8 that I was using as a transport.

I was amazed about how much better my system sounded (Theta Pro Basic III DAC, CJ17LS2, McCormack DNA-500, and Thiel CS5's).

My assumption is that the PWT provided more detail that translated into a better presence and aliveness to the sound.

Can anyone share their experience after trading their PWT for some other transport?

Thanks for listening,

Dsper
dsper

Showing 1 response by ejr1953

I currently own a PS Audio P15 power regenerator, a DirectStream DAC and CD transport.  I had the PerfectWave transport before the DirectStream model was introduced, and I found the newer model was well worth the upgrade, especially since I own about 100 SACDs.

The DirectStream CD transport uses a disk handling part provided by Oppo, who decided to get out of the business of providing those sorts of assemblies, so Paul decided to bulk up on spares (to support future repair requests) and to stop making the DirectStream available for sale.  If you can snag one of these for a reasonable price, I suspect you'll enjoy the improvement.

In my case I have the transport connected to the DAC using the I2S interface (an HDMI cable), pairing the two units, so when it's playing an SACD, it outputs pure DSD to the DAC.  The sound quality for that, and "regular" CDs is fantastic!