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Why use CD Transport instead of computer source

I have been seeking a new digital front end setup and would like some advice on what solution will produce the highest quality digital playback.

My current plan is to add a Slim Devices Transporter possibly mated to an external DAC, after evaluating the Transporter on its own to determine the quality of the internal DAC (which I understand is quite high).

Why would I consider a CD Transport and DAC as an alternative to a computer based source such as this? If I am using EAC to get bit-perfect rips of my CDs and I encode them in a lossless format like FLAC, there doesnt seem like there could be any benefit to using a CD Transport, in fact, the computer based source should be better if the rips are done bit-perfect.

Any comments on why there is still a high end market for CD transports given the availability of top computer based sources like the Slim Transporter?
superquant

Showing 2 responses by holenneck

holenneck
127 posts
 
A friend and I compared/blind tested a 12k CD player vs. a Mac/USB DAC combination and in most cases, we were unable to determine which was which. This was a blind test which was conducted within a cost no object system.

Like someone said above, the cost of a beloved transport perhaps can affect someone’s opinion.
holenneck
127 posts
 
The test was done in a dedicated listening room that has been well treated for room acoustics. The system is a system we are both very familiar with, the listen levels where matched, and we choose the same listening material, started at the exact same time.

We switched back and forth between the two inputs via the Sim Audio preamp. The preamps display was blocked so that the person taking the test could not see which input was in use.

The end result was that we could not tell which source was playing even though we could recognize slight details between the two. Neither was better, neither was worse than the other. The deciding factor was the user interface of the Mac setup was better, plus the ability to access the entire music collection without leaving the listening position sealed the deal.

Like I said up above, cost is no issue. He can have any source player in the world and he has chosen a hard drive based source.
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