Reading this thread with great interest. Most of the equipment discussed is way out of my financial league, but I can pick up a Transporter for under £1k now so I am seriously considering it as an option in my system.
There is a lot of discussion here about the bass and midrange levels of the Transporter vs PWD kit. However in my (long and varied) experience relative sound levels at the various frequency bands have *much* more to do with the speakers, amplifier and listening room. To my ears the differences between DACs with high quality analogue output stages are much more subtle. More to do with time-domain issues which affect harmonics, imaging and the realism of an instrument's sound (try listening to voices, piano, snare drum and cymbals). It will also affect the pace, rhythm and timing of music (yes, I own Naim stuff!). But a lack of tonal balance (boomy bass, strident treble, recessed midrange) has much more to do with the speaker model, design, positioning and stands. The amp can make a lesser difference to tonal balance but most critical of all is the room acoustic. Put any hi-fi in a small room with timber stud walls, heavy drapes, soft carpets, big sofas, pictures, book cases and any hi-fi will struggle to produce decent high frequency levels unless you are sitting absolutely at the sweet spot on-axis between the speakers. In such an environment the lower mid-range will dominate as high frequencies will be absorbed by the fabrics and bass standing waves and resonances broken up by furniture. A large and 'hard' room with bare brick/block walls, wood or stone floors and minimal furnishings will sound very "live" and dramatic but also confused by reflections, bass resonances and standing waves. "Boom and tizz" without a clear midrange is a real problem in that situation. So my point is... ...comparing PWD and Transporter in different acoustic environments with different amps and speakers is rather pointless if you only comment on tonal balance. You can only say what your own experience is if you have the luck to own both of these devices and play them through your own equipment. Somebody with different amp, speakers and acoustic environment could well have completely the opposite experience as regards tonal balance. So if you really want to be informative about how these players compare, How realistic does a drum kit sound? Or a choir in full voice? Or a solo piano? I want the "live" experience from my hi-fi, something the Naim amps give me in spades but they could do with a better "player" than the Receiver. -- TheLastMan Matt *SqueezeBoxes:* SB Duet (Controller + two receivers) *Server:* Synology Diskstation 107+ NAS (with firmware 2.3-1157) running Squeezebox Server 7.5.0 on Synology Package Manager *Network:* Netgear DG834GT ADSL modem/router, 2 x Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 as access points *Livingroom:* Receiver into Naim 42/110 amp, B&W CM2 speakers *Kitchen:* Receiver into Denon DM37 mini-system, B&W 686 speakers *Study:* Linn LP12, Naim 72/Hi-cap/Headline. LPs ripped usingBehringer UCA202 USB into Windows XP PC ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TheLastMan's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=16021 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82155
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