I concur.

An interesting idea for a XXI century audio source comes from Cambride Audio:

Any Yamaha TOTL CD player gets you a great transport. Models like the CDX-1100 usually sell for under $200.

I must clarify my first post.
I do belive a good transport is the most important link in any audio setup. However the question post by Rob in his first post was, and i quote:

"what would the real benefit of a $2000 CD transport be?"

My answer to his question is simply: No benefits.

Like Mark B and others had mention that are very good transports out there for 10 times lesser than that.

Therefor for the ones who can't find a good transport is the second- handed market, here's a couple of links for the ones who want upgrade their average cdp and modded it to a top transport without spending to much money:

http://www.soundstage.com/maxdb/maxdb200006.htm

http://www.soundstage.com/maxdb/maxdb200007.htm

And another link for the ones who to follow the "hard drive" way, like myself at this moment:

http://www.6moons.com/industryfeatures/har.../harddrive.html

Lossless recordings on hard drives can be superlative.

I agree. In fact I have been thinking a lot about a Wadia iTransport and an iPod, then re-ripping all of my music to Apple Lossless. That would give me the best of both worlds, convenience/portability and great sound quality. I could feed the Wadia either to the DAC in my office system, or use it in my main system via the digital input of the Adcom CD player.

If you see one in that price range let me know, I would love to match up my system.

elroy

My pleasure.

I have the matching CDP for your chick magnet Yammies, the CDX-2020. That's it in the case on the shelf below the monster receivers. PM me if interested.

I really can't contribute much here but here are some thoughts.

To me the biggest benefit of having an independant transport and DAC is to have them be seperate. To me it is similar to having seperates in amplifiers, preamp/power amp changing one you change the flavor of the sound. If you at some time want to change your DAC you don't have to search out the entire system.

As far as the actual transport, in early models there where only a couple of manufactures of the laser and mechanism, is this still the case?

Would the laser make a difference in how the disc was read? Or is going to come down to better quality disks in conjunction with a better laser before a difference can be appreciated?

Jim

Possibly due to poor tracking or focussing, and reading, the recovered envelope may not be perfect, but although the ripped information may be correct, I believe other factors like jitter, and the player's tracking motor current draws due to working harder will likely degrade the overall "sonics". Only an educated guess though.

BTW, i bought a better power supply fom Nox for my comp, later i'll put some pics.

That is a massive power supply for a computer. Great idea since you're using it as an audio source.

Like any other audio transport one of the most important items its a good power supply, and by that matter, nothing's better than a good power supply to feed all the hardware with good, clean and stable electricity in a computer.









Also i have an independent electric circuit and ground for my comp, a good power cable from Supra, another circuit and ground for the Yaqin buffer and MF X-A1 amplifier both with Supra power cables, Nordost speaker cables and the B&W CDM1 SE as speakers.
...and i feel fine.

BTW, here's some interesting links about EMI-RFI Shielding:

NASA Guidlines:
http://www.wovenwire.com/NASA-Contractor-Report-4784.pdf

Wire Mesh Cloth:
http://www.wovenwire.com/products-woven-wire-cloth-mesh.htm

Breakdown:
http://www.wovenwire.com/brass-wire-mesh.htm

http://www.wovenwire.com/copper-wire-mesh.htm

http://www.wovenwire.com/stainless-steel-wire-mesh.htm

I'm starting to listen with this PS but i find more definition and depth in all sound spectrum. I haven't a powerfull sound but i tell you i have a very good sound. Open, detailled, airy and tight.