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Same DAC: CD transport vs. computer...

Posted by willkayakforfood (A) on July 11, 2014 at 13:38:31

At the moment, though the computer setup is "pretty impressive", and is perfectly "listenable" without fatigue or any particular annoyance, the CD transport setup, to my well trained and very experienced ears, is better. Much like preferring one acoustic performance space over another -- live performance in either can be very good (though different, of course), yet one can still be preferred over the other (a personal, subjective preference).

I haven't listened to the internal DAC/analog output of the CD player/transport for a while, so I'll probably do that again one of these days, just to hear how that sounds in comparison to using the external DAC. For the moment though, I'm really enjoying the CD transport/external DAC arrangement.

You can see all the details in my system profiles, but here are the very basics...

DAC: "Uberized" Schiit Bifrost

CD player/transport: Virtue Audio Piano M1

I recently had to rearrange my room, so the DAC and system switcher moved further away from the CD player/transport, and I needed longer digital and analog cables (before this, I was using a DH labs "Silver Sonic" 1.5 meter S/PDIF coax cable for the CD transport). To save a bit of money for the moment, I got 20 foot cables from Blue Jeans (one digital S/PDIF coax cable, and a pair of LC-1 analog cables to go from system switcher back to the main system's preamp).

Computer: Asus 1215B-PU17-8L (12" laptop, 8GB RAM, dedicated for music, so minimum programs installed, services disabled, etc.).

I'm currently using PlayPcmWin as my player (prefer it over Foobar 2000, and MUCH prefer it over JRiver -- I really dislike the sound from JRiver).

Mostly files ripped from CD collection (uncompressed WAV, via dBpoweramp), and a few downloaded 24/96 files.

The USB cable I'm using was highly recommended here: 1.5 meter DH Labs "Silver Sonic" cable (quite a bit more expensive than the much longer Blue Jeans digital cable now being used with the CD transport). I also have an iFi USB iPurifier between the USB cable and DAC.

Basically, much more was spent on cabling for the computer setup than for the CD transport setup.

With the use of a Decware "Zen" switch box (I use it to switch between different amplification/speaker/headphone systems, not to multiply/switch between sources), I can listen to either the CD transport or computer on three different playback systems (main, computer, and headphone). All systems agree -- the sound is better using the CD transport rather than the computer setup.

Without getting technical (or using the usual "audiophile lexicon", which I often find meaningless, inaccurate/misused, and annoying), I will say that the CD transport system offers a more "substantial" and satisfying instrumental (and vocal, when applicable) timbral presentation. The computer setup seems just a bit "thinner/leaner".

If all I had was the computer setup, I could be quite happy, because it does sound very good, and I get "musicality" and "emotion" from the music and musician's performances, not from electronic/mechanical components and cables (every time I read an audiophile's comments regarding "musicality", "emotion", or "PRAT" coming from components, cables, speakers, tweaks, etc., I cringe).

Though I will no doubt continue to explore ways to improve the computer system's sound (with either continued use of laptop, or something else, eventually), I don't like to spend much time on tinkering and tweaking (I'm not interested in audiophilism as a "hobby"), as my "sit down and listen" time is limited, I just want to spend that time enjoying the music.

Though the convenience of the computer music system cannot be denied, and I do still use it occasionally for enjoying uninterrupted "mixed playlists", most of my listening still involves playing whole CDs (or "programmed" play from a particular CD), my particular setups favor the CD transport.

I guess the point of this message might be to remind others who have also spent much time and effort on their computer systems to now and then go back and listen to their CD players/transports (if they still have them). Like me, they might just rediscover the superior joy of something they thought they may have "moved beyond".

Edits: 07/11/14

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