CD Transport Upgrade

[ovlov854]

Hi Y'All
I am now in the situation of contemplating an upgrade to my digital section which consists of an Audiomeca Kreatura transport which has also been upgraded to sync to the AS DAX Deade but for obvious reasons do not use it
My DAC is the SW1X DAC 1 with a choice Tesla E88cc
Now do I upgrade transport or dac??
Ideally it should be half width
Any ideas

[Yomanze]

Am not sure any upgrades are necessary if you like the sound more than the DAX, which is a very capable DAC.

[SW1X]

Hi Y'All
I am now in the situation of contemplating an upgrade to my digital section which consists of an Audiomeca Kreatura transport which has also been upgraded to sync to the AS DAX Deade but for obvious reasons do not use it
My DAC is the SW1X DAC 1 with a choice Tesla E88cc
Now do I upgrade transport or dac??
Ideally it should be half width
Any ideas

Dear Martin,

Upgrading transports can be quite tricky. The digital transport must be seen as an integral part of your digital setup (as well as the rest of your system of course). A digital transport can either make or break the sound of a system and in my book it is even more important than a DAC itself because it streams musical information down to a DAC, which in the end sounds only as good as the transport does. If a transport does not stream right, the correctness of the digital stream cannot can be restored back later.

That is how crucial it is.

The other issue is to find the right transport that will match or complement the qualities of your DAC. This is even more tricky because to date I have been struggling to find a transport that would sound as analogue as some of the finest turntables do.

S

[Yomanze]

Unless the transport is obviously flawed then I apply the 80/20 rule - 80% of the sound down the the DAC and 20% transport. To read that the transport is more important than a DAC in determining the final sound is a first for me. :P

I tried the SW1X USB transport a while back and did find it a bit bright and forward; my Halide Bridge sounded more natural and analogue to me.

I do agree that some transports can add an “edge” or make things too “smooth”, and they are important, just not as much as the DAC side.

[Macca]

In my own experience I'd say it is transport/DAC 50/50 in terms of influence. I was quite shocked at the differences between transports when I experimented. I've never seen anything that explains this phenomenon, which is annoying as how can you decide on a transport if you don't know what exactly makes a good one?

The only explanations I have seen are nonsense about imagining the differences or nonsense about jitter. No-one seems to know, not even the people who make them.

[montesquieu]

Hi Y'All
I am now in the situation of contemplating an upgrade to my digital section which consists of an Audiomeca Kreatura transport which has also been upgraded to sync to the AS DAX Deade but for obvious reasons do not use it
My DAC is the SW1X DAC 1 with a choice Tesla E88cc
Now do I upgrade transport or dac??
Ideally it should be half width
Any ideas

Maybe we could do a temporary swap .. I've been curious about trying a transport that would synch with my Mutech reclocker/master clock box which I suspect the Audiomeca will do. Having said that, my Audio Note CDT2/II is a pretty good transport. Oxford services is about halfway we could meet up?

Of course something like the Mutec itself could be worth a try.

[SW1X]

Unless the transport is obviously flawed then I apply the 80/20 rule - 80% of the sound down the the DAC and 20% transport. To read that the transport is more important than a DAC in determining the final sound is a first for me. :P

I tried the SW1X USB transport a while back and did find it a bit bright and forward; my Halide Bridge sounded more natural and analogue to me.

I do agree that some transports can add an “edge” or make things too “smooth”, and they are important, just not as much as the DAC side.

Greetings Neil,

Everything being relative, not entirely sure how you got a product from us but I can only speculate that what you had was a prototype and not a product (on a loan that I did not authorize to be loaned further) of what we now days call SW1X USB I, which is a different animal relative to a prototype you had. On top of that you are talking about an USB interface, which probably makes up a half or even less of a digital transport. A computer along with its power supplies, OS & wiring (probably the most crucial factor) makes up the other very significant part of the sound.

S

[ovlov854]

On good sense alone I would lean to the view that the transport must be the most important factor purely on the basis of crap in crap out.
From my own experience the transport side of my CDP could not match that of my dedicated transport. But then which transport does one audition/try??
So that's where you guys come in

[ovlov854]

Maybe we could do a temporary swap .. I've been curious about trying a transport that would synch with my Mutech reclocker/master clock box which I suspect the Audiomeca will do. Having said that, my Audio Note CDT2/II is a pretty good transport. Oxford services is about halfway we could meet up?

Of course something like the Mutec itself could be worth a try.

Hi Tom......Yes we could do that
However I should point out that my Kreatura has been modified by Audio Synthesis themselves and is badged as such. There is a rotary switch on the back for AS lock and ordinary output. The latter is the only output I have used since I do not have the Dax Decade Dac. Neither did the guy I bought it from.
I just wanted to let you know exactly what it is before we go any further.
But yes I would sure like to hear what a good AN Dac would do

[Blueflash]

I am in Hereford and have an Audionote CDT 3 transport. You would be welcome to bring your Dac down to try it with the CDT 3.
I have the ATC SCA2 preamp and ATC50ASL speakers in a treated room so differences would be easily heard.