gregeas;182283 Wrote: > [I posted this on Head-fi.org but believe it is relevant here as well.] > > Last week I received my Slimdevices Transporter and sold off my Arcam > CD33 source. I had previous experiences using Squeezeboxes in secondary > systems, so all of my music had been ripped with EAC, properly tagged, > and stored as FLAC. On somewhat of a whim I decided to go disk-free in > my main system. > > In the past I've had underwhelming experiences with source swaps. I've > owned a few DAC1s, an Apogee MiniDAC, the Arcam CD23 and 33, and a few > high-end Arcam DVD and universal players. Frankly, for me it was tough > to hear any obvious improvements (or deterioration) when changing > sources, especially compared to the obvious differences I experienced > when changing speakers or amplication. I had come to the conclusion > that at a certain level sources tend to sound the same. > > Last night I had the first chance to listen to the Transporter in my > main rig: Arcam C31 pre, P1 monoblocks, PMC FB1+ floorstanders, and > Moon Audio Black Dragon cables. > > This time I was blown away by the difference. The sound from the > Transporter was much more involving than it had been with the Arcam, > and I had a feeling that the music was easier to enjoy, and more fun. > This is a totally subjective observation but was very real after three > years with the CD33. > > More significantly, I was able to listen to older music and completely > get into it. In the past, many of my CDs from the 70s and 80s were > relegated to car use only, where the environment was more forgiving for > less-quality masters. I listened to songs from The Clash, The Jam, > Rolling Stones, Hoodoo Gurus, Allman Brothers, and almost everything > put a big grin on my face. Previously this music got almost no airplay > on my main rig. > > On a more objective level, the soundstage became wider, deeper and more > precise with the Transporter. Soundstage had always been lacking in this > system, and I was beginning to think that the room made poor performance > inevitable. While before I had to concentrate to "see" the images, now > they were obviously arrayed before me, in a variety of music. > > For the first time, I'm actually impressed with my system. I'm even > wondering if there was something wrong with the setup before. I can't > begin to explain why the Transporter sounds this much better, as I had > considered it to be a lateral move from my $2.5k CD player, at best. > But clearly the Transporter is a great fit in my system. > > As a final note, I will say that "surfing" music and building playlists > on the fly is a huge improvement over swapping CDs. After the > Slimdevices experience, it is nearly impossible to go back to shiny > disks.
Seems the AKM AK4396 D/A used in the Transporter has had very good reviews in general. Also, not having SPDIF introducing its problems (as with a stand-alone DAC) is a benefit. -- P Floding No, I didn't ABX it. And I won't even if you ask me. (Especially not if you ask me.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ P Floding's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2932 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=32969 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
