MCD1000 vs OPPO BDP-83 for a transport

[Ron]

Originally Posted by Dj_AmTraX

IMO, MDA1000 gives you rock solid build, pretty (timeless) glass face, very nice aluminum CD drawer, heavy metal box, and knowing you have the BEST CD transport McIntosh makes to date. If you are a hardware guy and all those things turns you on, you should get the MDA1000.

I am a hardware guy so the MDA1000 my pick.

What makes the transport in the MDA1000 better than the transport in the MCD500?

[howiebrou]

Originally Posted by Ron

What makes the transport in the MDA1000 better than the transport in the MCD500?

I think we all mean the MCD1000 transport and the MDA1000 DAC.

The MCD1000 transport is made by Linn and is the same as the famous Linn CD12 transport widely acknowledged in its day as being the best.

Time flies however and it seems all the top brands use Esoteric transports now (DCS, Playback Designs, Orpheus, Soulution, Wadia (some), Mark Levinson) etc...

[tdelahanty]

Gavin: I had the same issues with my Levinson 37 transport & 360S dac. I called Levinson to discuss the issue and their answer was surprising. I'll bet your player never fails to read red book Cd's. Levinson designed the transport with strict adherance to red book standards. Most Cd's, now, have a lot of other data on them for multi-media uses and may be longer than the 71 minute requirement for Red Book Cd. It would not decode the TOC and would puke, "ERROR BAD DISC"

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by cmalak

So Jim...do you think hard drive (i.e., computer or music server) based systems are superior to optical disk based systems for a given DAC each and every time in terms of sound reproduction at least (hard drive based systems have other issues - hard drives can go bad for example)?

Cyril
At this in time I do not believe they are as good as the the best transports and DAC's, but any differences are minimal and for many people the additional cost is not worth it.

The best systems that I have heard that use computer based CD/DVD transports are the ones that read and re-read the data into a buffer and do the error correction before writing the data to disk (I guess Meridian now falls into this category. Most PC's and laptops attempt the correction on the fly correction using drives that are not built to the specs of those used by Esoteric, DCS, etc. and do not clamp the discs as accurately. Jim

[cmalak]

So using a computer or music server drive to rip discs using something like the EAC (Exact Audio Copy) software that supposedly does a bit-perfect copy does not solve that problem?

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by cmalak

So using a computer or music server drive to rip discs using something like the EAC (Exact Audio Copy) software that supposedly does a bit-perfect copy does not solve that problem?

Cyril
I am not sure. It just seems to me that reading reflected light is a bit of art as well as science If you read that reflection incorrectly then you are not going to put everything back together again properly.

For data with check sums etc I think it would work perfectlty.
Jim

[ArthurPE]

has anyone ever recorded:
the digital stream from a cheap transport
vs
one from an expensive one?

perhaps a 60 sec byte

then compared them with telecom software used for error checking/signal analysis?
obviously the recording media may introduce some error, but we can assume that will be the same for both...

imo the biggest influenced (at least on the 'sound', tone, tempo, etc.) is the system clock, not the reader or DA conversion per se...

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by ArthurPE

has anyone ever recorded:
the digital stream from a cheap transport
vs
one from an expensive one?

perhaps a 60 sec byte

then compared them with telecom software used for error checking/signal analysis?
obviously the recording media may introduce some error, but we can assume that will be the same for both...

imo the biggest influenced (at least on the 'sound', tone, tempo, etc.) is the system clock, not the reader or DA conversion per se...

I would agree that system clocks have an impact. Whether that impact is greater than the impact of the power supply, transport mechanism, DAC's is probably manufacturer dependent (design philosophy)
Jim

[Masterlu]

With all that being said, I still love my MCD1000 and would do it all over again.

[blacsno]

Originally Posted by cmalak

So using a computer or music server drive to rip discs using something like the EAC (Exact Audio Copy) software that supposedly does a bit-perfect copy does not solve that problem?

YEP! Just don't use iTunes for ripping. They don't support CLONING, you can copy albeit a very good one. If it wasn't was for the need of SACD playback. IMO Transports in any form as playback is dead-end technology for high end usage!!! This brings back memories of those who still are hanging onto 8 tracks!!

Ken