CD transports - do they matter?

[Marco]

Personally I prefer 32 and 64 bit depth recordings (those these are very rare and we do have equipment that can reproduce this), purely down to the amount of information available that can 'paint the picture properly' when you hear these compared to red book it does make you realise how far red book is off the pace.Interesting thread too.

Hi Tony,

You may be right, but we'll see what happens when I hear the Bel Canto DAC Steve will be auditioning, against my Sony!

The CDPs built-in one was nothing to write home about...

All will be reported (as usual) on the forum

Marco.

[StanleyB]

Yep, one of the games I can play with the CPLD in my dac is truncate the word length, I suspect the folks who crave for 24 bit reproduction might be a bit upset how 15 and 14 bit sounds,

Are you sure about the 12 bit? I know the early Phlips (Sony and Meridian) machines used 4 times oversampling with cunning noise shaping and 14 bit DACs

Unfortunately for me, I was the guy selected by the repair company I worked for in the 80's (remember Lasky's?) to go on the various training courses and come back to train up the other staff. Sticks in my head as a sore thumb. The 12 bit players I remember are the Hitachi and the Fisher, which had the CD eject mechanism that pushed the CD upwards.

The 1st noted 14 bit player was the 14 bit, 4X oversampling Marantz.

[lurcher]

Unfortunately for me, I was the guy selected by the repair company I worked for in the 80's (remember Lasky's?) to go on the various training courses and come back to train up the other staff. Sticks in my head as a sore thumb. The 12 bit players I remember are the Hitachi and the Fisher, which had the CD eject mechanism that pushed the CD upwards.

The 1st noted 14 bit player was the 14 bit, 4X oversampling Marantz.

Ok, the one I was thinking of and have seen was based on the CD104

[StanleyB]

Ok, the one I was thinking of and have seen was based on the CD104

That came years later. Before that you had the CD100, CD101, and the CD303. I still got two CD104 laser unit. One is BINB. Might dump it on fleebay.

[lurcher]

I still got two CD104 laser unit. One is BINB. Might dump it on fleebay.

I might know someone who would be interested in that. I can ask him if you like?

[StanleyB]

I might know someone who would be interested in that. I can ask him if you like?

Sure, why not? I might even have the CDM-2 service manual as well.

[lurcher]

Sure, why not? I might even have the CDM-2 service manual as well.

Ok, I will pass the info on.

[electric beach]

Having read this thread I decided to try a quick experiment. I'm involved in the print industry and my company makes inks for printing CDs, so we get involved with the technicalities of producing inks that don't effect the spin of discs. A (musician but non-hifi) colleague argued the case for the superior ability of Blue Ray laser to read red book Cds. In theory this technology development needs to be highly accurate to read the smaller HD 'braille'. In theory the Blue Ray laser should read the disc extremely well. Sounded like heresy but...

I connected a PS3 and sat back expecting the worst. I was not disappointed. While quite dynamic, there was little soundstage or natural tone for a start. No bass, no finesse. The DAC would be voiced for games and films for one and with the R&D and hardware budget for the laser assembly I would imagine that nothing else in there is HiFi quality i.e. master clock.

I bought a cheap optical cable for a test, rigged up my MF TriVista DAC21 - and I can't turn it off!

My transport is usually a Consonance Linear 120, times like it has no right to but obviously does have it's shortcomings like any £800 player, so maybe I'm merely hearing the PS3 as a transport highlighting these faults and doing them better, while I'm missing the weaknesses. But it's sounding really dynamic, detailed, holographic with excellent instrument seperation and it's so musical it's just grooving like a bastard!

I feel guilty!! Can anyone bring me back down to earth with a counter experience or if you have the wherewithall, put a PS3 through your DAC for a second opinion. Maybe it just feeds the DAC21 what it needs and it's a synergy thing but I haven't even tweaked yet!!??

[Stratmangler]

I bought a cheap optical cable for a test, rigged up my MF TriVista DAC21 - and I can't turn it off!

Just forget all the guilt, hype and bullsh*t and enjoy.

Chris