Did you do this comparison without knowing which was playing? Subjective listening comparisons without basic controls will almost always lead to hearing differences.
Here's a video our host put together to get more into it.
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Can different CD *transports* sound different - when fed into the same DAC?
- Thread starter jonUK
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Did you do this comparison without knowing which was playing? Subjective listening comparisons without basic controls will almost always lead to hearing differences.
Here's a video our host put together to get more into it.
The difference was very clear for me. As I said, I was actually hoping the Yamaha would sound best or at least as good as the CXC, but it didn't.
Also "Subjective listening comparisons without basic controls will almost always lead to hearing differences." This is partly incorrect. Statistically, most times such tests will lead to hearing differences, particularly when one is biases towards a componen t/an outcome. However, as stated, most times is not "always" and in my case, my bias was completely negated by what I heared. We must also factor in the blu ray player which was very much clearly different sounding than the other two.
Uhuh…
if they had given me one euro for every time I read this sentence, I would be rich
It always is, until you can't peek. Try it before dismissing it. Doubling down won't make the claim more believable.
I reduced a salesman to a gibberish mess by saying I didn’t hear a difference between the fancy Lumin streamer and the one built into an amp.
Extremely unlikely that your different perception results from a difference in audible signal. Sorry.
I don't care because I don't listen to CDs played in real-time any more, I rip everything to FLAC or sometimes ALAC. AccurateRip usually verifies that my rips are correct.
Years before ASR was even a dream in the deepest reaches of Amir's subconscious I did a number of tests that were positively not up to the standards required to be irrefutable.
That said, I performed a number of semi controlled blind tests and my take away was that every CD player or dedicated transport that I ran through the same DAC sounded the same. I also played an iPod through the Wadia 170i and its digital output sounded the same through the same DAC. Comparing the output of a NAS through a Sonos Connect playing a lossless copy of the same disc sounded the same through the same DAC... but I "thought" the sound of the Toslink input on the DAC didn't sound as good as the XLR or digital coax inputs.
Since these comparisons were not up to the standards required for an irrefutable test, today I am not 100% convinced that the Toslink connection was inferior, but that was my impression at the time.
Sgt. Ear Ache
Major Contributor
Classic!
What did your wife have to say about the difference she heard from the kitchen?
Way back when Windows used to mangle the data stream which was pre Vista? ,I remember there was a service pack that cured the issue.
Everyone used Macs because they had bit perfect output, I have through the years commissioned two ‘audio computers’ stripped down OS linear power supply SOTM/JPLAy sound cards, Amarra software every week that was recommended by Computer audiophile, always compared to my Macbook through the same dac, not a squeak of difference .
State of the art digital replay costs relatively peanuts.
Keith
Everyone used Macs because they had bit perfect output, I have through the years commissioned two ‘audio computers’ stripped down OS linear power supply SOTM/JPLAy sound cards, Amarra software every week that was recommended by Computer audiophile, always compared to my Macbook through the same dac, not a squeak of difference .
State of the art digital replay costs relatively peanuts.
Keith
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It is very difficult for people to accept the good news.
The entire chain from music storage/sourcing to amplification is a solved problem for all but the corner cases, and doesn't have to cost much. To really improve fidelity, you have to spend your money and time on speakers, rooms, and EQ.
On the other hand, this is hard - speakers are harder to move, measuring requires learning, and treating rooms can be aesthetically challenging. Better to pretend a new box or wire in front of the transducer is the answer.
The entire chain from music storage/sourcing to amplification is a solved problem for all but the corner cases, and doesn't have to cost much. To really improve fidelity, you have to spend your money and time on speakers, rooms, and EQ.
On the other hand, this is hard - speakers are harder to move, measuring requires learning, and treating rooms can be aesthetically challenging. Better to pretend a new box or wire in front of the transducer is the answer.
It's yet another misbegotten youtube video by a deluded and/or scamming 'audiophile'
If his transports sound different, one or both aren't doing their job: to send bit-perfect data to a DAC. Errors from reading and data transport would not manifest in the gooey audiophile terms he uses. And he isn't even comparing like to like, as Blumlein notes. All that apart from the basic comparison method flaws.
Stop giving these useless videos air here (or anywhere). They deserve to languish in obscurity.
And the posts that sprout inevitably like weeds in these threads, reporting 'But hey I hear differences in my transports too, so yes they DO sound different! (when I compare sighted and non level matched)' certainly aren't any more convincing. They reflect an embarrassing fundamental lack of understanding of how audio science (the AS in ASR) works.
It seems some people here behave at least as much as cult fanatics as people on the other end of the spectrum (the people who believe cable raisers make a difference, etc).
The reaction I got from people who obviously never tested any proper CD transports on a good enough system and particularly speakers that could ever relay any difference through their resolution capability is absolutely hilarious, its basically like being in a schoolyard and children arguing that a porsche isnt better than a ferrari when their experience is limited to NFS.
If your reference is based on either someone posting a VISUAL test with numbers and charts on the internet, you don't know what you're talking about. If your experience is based on trying out some budget cd players on budget speakers, of course you most probably can't tell any difference.
The important thing here is the OP's question. To which my answer is YES, some transports sound better than other, particularly as per my personal experience if we're talking about dedicated cd transport boxes.
Everything else is noise from people triggered by the possibility that there might be differences in audio chain components that up until now can't always be properly represented through measurements.
The reaction I got from people who obviously never tested any proper CD transports on a good enough system and particularly speakers that could ever relay any difference through their resolution capability is absolutely hilarious, its basically like being in a schoolyard and children arguing that a porsche isnt better than a ferrari when their experience is limited to NFS.
If your reference is based on either someone posting a VISUAL test with numbers and charts on the internet, you don't know what you're talking about. If your experience is based on trying out some budget cd players on budget speakers, of course you most probably can't tell any difference.
The important thing here is the OP's question. To which my answer is YES, some transports sound better than other, particularly as per my personal experience if we're talking about dedicated cd transport boxes.
Everything else is noise from people triggered by the possibility that there might be differences in audio chain components that up until now can't always be properly represented through measurements.
Ah, the good old “your system is not resolving enough” argument. Very original…
The originality of a statement is a non sequitur in this argument. The fact of the matter is that a more resolving system, particularly speakers, "resolve" more transparently audio information. If you don't think that is true, then, i have no reason to even argue about that
). However that can be easily observed when one goes from a budget to a mote hifi system.
You listened to that entire thing so the rest of us didn't have to. Thank you for your service.
Which has nothing to do with non-broken digital transports.
Couldn't help but double down with the predictable insults thrown in for good measure...
You can call it a day in this thread.
So what physical parameter make a system more resolving? And what do they “resolve” coming from a digital stream?The originality of a statement is a non sequitur in this argument. The fact of the matter is that a more resolving system, particularly speakers, "resolve" more transparently audio information. If you don't think that is true, then, i have no reason to even argue about that
How is price a factor in this? If this forum has shown anything, it is that price has totally no bearing on objective sound quality.
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