Are Transports Obsolete?

It surprises me in this day and age that transports continue to be developed, and presumably sold. I know this has at least been in part to the physical media aspects of spinning one's CD library. Also, Transports, particularly of the cost no object variety, can be more 'sexy' than servers.

We 'know' that server technology has, for all intents and purposes, eclipsed transports in the last few years, but the best of the best transports continue to garner enthusiasm if not raves from some reviewers that I really respect.

Are there any out there that, having bought a server, have recently been drawn back or towards the world of transports?
What is your server and why and what transports have you or are you reconsidering?
 
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That's not a fair comparison - the TX2 is a $25k transport with a top PC and HRS isolation platform linked to my DA2 via ST fiber.

My point was that the Oppo with a good LPS is not necessarily outperformed by dedicated transports in the $1k to $3k range. Certainly if you have the budget you can find a transport that significantly outperforms the Oppo but no one (sane) cross shops $1k and $25k transports.

Even $3K is insane for a transport. Add a good $1K reclocker and good cabling to any transport and you will outperform them all. Modern resampling algorithms have no coloration, so there is no downside to upsampling a CD.

The transport is only a method to get digital to the DAC. Digital has only two characteristics: Timing and content. There is NOTHING ELSE. S/PDIF only adds impedance matching. Even a $1K transport delivers the content with no errors. Timing can be improved with a reclocker. A $1K transport and a $1K reclocker will beat even the $25K transport, delivering even lower jitter and better impedance matching. I've measured it.
 
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Which device would you recommend?
Thanks

Matt

For S/PDIF in and out:

http://www.empiricalaudio.com/products/synchro-mesh

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=t49p6jngcgg1qropv2uprgn2q4&topic=157348.0

If you must have XLR in and out:

http://www.titansaudiolab.com/en/products/Helen/Helen.html

The downside of XLR for digital is that the impedance matching is not nearly as good as with coax and S/PDIF. This will increase jitter.

I can mod the Helen to reduce jitter for you:

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=163712.0
 
If I a DAC only system and were looking to add a CD player, it would have to have SACD capability. That would limit me to the same manufacturer as any DAC I might have, where available, using their own proprietary cable. That is what costs so much and why I haven’t jettisoned my Esoteric player.
 
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If I a DAC only system and were looking to add a CD player, it would have to have SACD capability. That would limit me to the same manufacturer as any DAC I might have, where available, using their own proprietary cable. That is what costs so much and why I haven’t jettisoned my Esoteric player.
All MSB universal transports when playing sacd, can output dsd signal in DoP format via all their spdif digital outputs.
But I guess sacd purists won't accept that. Haha
 
All MSB universal transports when playing sacd, can output dsd signal in DoP format via all their spdif digital outputs.
But I guess sacd purists won't accept that. Haha
Ha. Perhaps not. But that wouldn’t turn me off as much as the $ to get into an MSB transport. Brutal.
 
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Ha. Perhaps not. But that wouldn’t turn me off as much as the $ to get into an MSB transport. Brutal.

What you’re paying for is the MSB proprietary asynchronous Pro ISL optical connection, which sounds better than any other I have listened to, the high quality separate power supply and the fancy aluminum case work. The actual physical transport is nothing more than a Oppo Blu Ray with a machined metal tray.

Ken
 
What you’re paying for is the MSB proprietary asynchronous Pro ISL optical connection, which sounds better than any other I have listened to, the high quality separate power supply and the fancy aluminum case work. The actual physical transport is nothing more than a Oppo Blu Ray with a machined metal tray.

Ken

But when you consider that the USB Pro package with Pro ISL is only 2k....... ;)

Matt
 
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Er, yes, I really do. Of course I could get an Extreme, and another one for the bedroom for the same price...
What is fascinating is that this is deffo not an Oppo transport in a pretty box at a stupidly high mark up, it's a ground up new design, bullet proof build.
I'm thinking, ooh, Extreme, JMF 3.7 and Eera Meister dac for a cool £100k end point digital source. A nice French-Dutch collaboration.
 
Even $3K is insane for a transport. Add a good $1K reclocker and good cabling to any transport and you will outperform them all. Modern resampling algorithms have no coloration, so there is no downside to upsampling a CD.

The transport is only a method to get digital to the DAC. Digital has only two characteristics: Timing and content. There is NOTHING ELSE. S/PDIF only adds impedance matching. Even a $1K transport delivers the content with no errors. Timing can be improved with a reclocker. A $1K transport and a $1K reclocker will beat even the $25K transport, delivering even lower jitter and better impedance matching. I've measured it.

IMHO we can't analyze the transport out of the context of whole system, particularly the DAC. I think digital in a system has three characteristics : timing, content and noise - although theoretically we could reduce noise to timing it is not enough to correlate with perceived sound quality - a digital source always injects noise in the whole system.

Although currently I prefer my top measuring DCS Vivaldi stack to the Metronome Calypso Reference transport /C2A DAC, not all of my friends think so, and I still think that this last system outperforms many much lower jitter systems floating around in musical terms. As as I often say, I could happily retire with this digital system, listening and buying CDs forever. Just MHO, YMMV.
 
IMHO we can't analyze the transport out of the context of whole system, particularly the DAC.
Definitely!
For most of the brands/models, the transports & dac are designed together and there must be a synergistic effect.

The MSB Select and Reference transports are expensive but when paired with their own dac via the proprietary ProISL optical I2S type of connection, are the most satisfying high rez physical digital combos I have ever encountered.
 
The MSB Select and Reference transports are expensive but when paired with their own dac via the proprietary ProISL optical I2S type of connection, are the most satisfying high rez physical digital combos I have ever encountered.

Did you compare with CH Precision D1/C1 combo connected via CH link HD as well?
Thanks

Matt
 
Did you compare with CH Precision D1/C1 combo as well?
Thanks
Matt
Yes, I visit the CH Precision showroom and owner friends very often. :)
But of course the CH fans may not agree with me.

Some limitations :
It's only my personal view and is by memory only. Near impossible to arrange a direct compariaon between these top digital systems. They are not present in one single showroom and is too heavy too tedious for owners to bring them together.

Another limitation is bcos the CH is sort of modular. I listened at length at most to a D1 and C1 driven separately by their own X1 ext psu and with a T1 clock, but not the ultimate mono C1 with mono X1.
 
If you're interested in excellence for not a lot of money (CD only) check out the Simaudio 260D CD Transport with optional DAC. Some folks pair this transport with the Schitt Yggdrasil DAC for an economical (approx $5K US total) high performance player. In another Forum a very detailed review of this combo player was made with performance compared with the author's Esoteric K-01X. He declared the comparison a draw and bought the Simaudio-Schitt combo for his second system.
 
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If you're interested in excellence for not a lot of money (CD only) check out the Simaudio 260D CD Transport with optional DAC. Some folks pair this transport with the Schitt Yggdrasil DAC for an economical (approx $5K US total) high performance player. In another Forum a very detailed review of this combo player was made with performance compared with the author's Esoteric K-01X. He declared the comparison a draw and bought the Simaudio-Schitt combo for his second system.

Yes, I know, afaik @Al M. does use one.
Schiit Audio will launch this year their own CD transport with USB output which will be a perfect match for the Unison USB Yggdrasil.

Matt
 
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IMHO we can't analyze the transport out of the context of whole system, particularly the DAC. I think digital in a system has three characteristics : timing, content and noise - although theoretically we could reduce noise to timing it is not enough to correlate with perceived sound quality - a digital source always injects noise in the whole system.

It is always a system thing, however the noise can be minimized with adequate isolation, using transformers or RF isolation. This is a problem between any two components and is mainly due to ground-loop noise.
 

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