Are Transports dead?

[rockitman]

But this is not [anecdotal]:

The above is the performance of my 15 year old Mark Levinson No360S DAC being drive from my everyday laptop's USB connection through the Berkeley Alpha USB Adapter.

This is superlative performance by every measure.

I looked through the recent reviews of transports on stereophile web site and here is the $13,000 ARC reference CD9 transport and DAC on the same jitter test as above:

And the $43,000 MSB Platinum Data CD IV transport & Diamond DAC IV & D/A converter combo:

Again, my test was with an obsolete DAC that even new was about $7K.

As I said, the ending of the story is already written. Just takes a while for all the players to read that chapter .

I still have No's 36, 27.5, 380S 0n reserve...my 1990's-2009 stereo. I loved Madrigal.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

But this is not [anecdotal]:

The above is the performance of my 15 year old Mark Levinson No360S DAC being drive from my everyday laptop's USB connection through the Berkeley Alpha USB Adapter.

This is superlative performance by every measure.

I looked through the recent reviews of transports on stereophile web site and here is the $13,000 ARC reference CD9 transport and DAC on the same jitter test as above:

And the $43,000 MSB Platinum Data CD IV transport & Diamond DAC IV & D/A converter combo:

Again, my test was with an obsolete DAC that even new was about $7K.

As I said, the ending of the story is already written. Just takes a while for all the players to read that chapter .

By "everyday laptop" you mean off the shelf, not customized, and by USB, you mean USB, right?

Tim

 

[DaveyF]

Christian, how would you say your current PS audio PW transport and PW DAC compare to the older ML gear you mention. I would have thought the ML gear would give the PS audio more than a run for the money.

 

[esldude]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0yXqU-w9U0

He is dead Jim...........

Or one of the clips, "he is worse than dead Jim.......his brain is gone!" Which seems to describe many audiophiles. Worse than dead.

Transports may not be exactly dead, but please refresh my memory.....what are the benefits or technical areas where they excel vs playback from a hard drive??????

Or to paraphrase a movie:

Wat: What do you mean, dead?

Roland: The spark of his life is smothered in shite. His spirit is gone but his stench remains. Does that answer your question?

 

[Al M.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0yXqU-w9U0

He is dead Jim...........

Or one of the clips, "he is worse than dead Jim.......his brain is gone!" Which seems to describe many audiophiles. Worse than dead.

Transports may not be exactly dead, but please refresh my memory.....what are the benefits or technical areas where they excel vs playback from a hard drive??????

None, in principle. But I have tried to provide a more differentiated viewpoint in post # 100 on the previous page.

It seems odd that in general the tone of the 'anti-transporters' in this thread is so much more heated.

 

[rbbert]

Many current stand-alone disc players have USB inputs for their DACs. How does a server/laptop input that way compare to the sound of a disc (the same one) played on the disc player?

 

[rblnr]

Many current stand-alone disc players have USB inputs for their DACs. How does a server/laptop input that way compare to the sound of a disc (the same one) played on the disc player?

Don't know about this specifically but can tell you that when switching on the fly between tracks synced on the spinning CD on and a Squeezebox feeding the dig input of my old Cary 200 CDP (great player btw), the difference was imperceptible to everybody who listened, and did this with a lot of people. Was very easy w/a remote click to A/B.

 

[Elberoth]

Many current stand-alone disc players have USB inputs for their DACs. How does a server/laptop input that way compare to the sound of a disc (the same one) played on the disc player?

USB inputs vary greatly in quality. Great player (or a DAC) with crappy USB input inplementation will still sound like a crap.

 

[mauidan]

But this is not [anecdotal]:

The above is the performance of my 15 year old Mark Levinson No360S DAC being drive from my everyday laptop's USB connection through the Berkeley Alpha USB Adapter.

This is superlative performance by every measure.

I looked through the recent reviews of transports on stereophile web site and here is the $13,000 ARC reference CD9 transport and DAC on the same jitter test as above:

And the $43,000 MSB Platinum Data CD IV transport & Diamond DAC IV & D/A converter combo:

Again, my test was with an obsolete DAC that even new was about $7K.

As I said, the ending of the story is already written. Just takes a while for all the players to read that chapter .

amirm,

Did you use the Berkeley Alpha USB Adapter's Spdif or AES output for your test?

Here's Stereophile's jitter tests of the $7K Aesthetix Romulus CDP/DAC(tube output stage), first 16 bit data from its internal CD drive and the second 24-bit data via USB from MacBook Pro:

 

[rbbert]

USB inputs vary greatly in quality. Great player (or a DAC) with crappy USB input inplementation will still sound like a crap.

Weeelll, yeah, but I think ARC, Playback Designs, Esoteric, etc. are taking the same care with their USB inputs as with the rest of their product...

 

[flyer]

The fact that amirm is using a Berkeley Audio Design converter is probably largely explaining his very good measurement. On this link you find an interesting comparison between converters that also reduce jitter; http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f...onic-devices-spdif-converters-shootout-15327/

Alternatively you can just use another USB cable like this one from Totaldac: http://www.totaldac.com/USB_cable-eng.htm which is reported to produce much better results than a regular USB cable. (btw, check out the same spectrum diagrams of the Dual DAC and Mono DAC of the same make, they have noise levels at -150 and -160dB respectively!! although I am not sure if I am comparing fruit with fruit here... )

 

[Elberoth]

Weeelll, yeah, but I think ARC, Playback Designs, Esoteric, etc. are taking the same care with their USB inputs as with the rest of their product...

I'm sure they do. The problem is, that not all of them have enough PC audio expertise to design a very good USB input. They are all at the begining of the learning curve.