Ultimate Guide to High end HiFi help please

[admin_exported]

The magazine which I enjoy reading over and over, doesn't directly discuss DAC's which could be used as part of a media streaming service. As many high end hifi enthusiasts will look at multi room etc etc, and DAC's form a key patr of the chain if you take out CD players.

I am looking at purchasing a Chord QBD64 as Chord stated to me it does not matter, the method of transporting the data, as long as the source data is of highest quality. Everyone who has one raves about them (naturally), but Chord have no representation under CD players (Dac and transport combo). Is this because they have been overlooked or because they are not that good?

With the wealth of non CD based solutions, will WHF look at adding more future proofed solutions / categories in the next one, especially if you can better CD playback at a lower cost point.

 

[Anonymous]

Many many CD transports and even more so integrated CD players, use "off the shelf" CD mechanisms, i.e. the parts that spin the disc, and possibly the laser and its servo. What you pay for from then on is the power supply, DAC, case, etc. and the quality of those components. Maybe el-cheapo Currys et al level systems use really el cheapo mechanisms, with more "high end" manufacturers using better ones. Some manufacturers, e.g. Cyrus, develop their own mechanisms all together, as embodied in the new "SE" range of players and transports.

For small manufacturers, like maybe Chord, the cost of developing their own transport mechanisms is probably prohibitive, however, and would boost their product prices from "arm and a leg" to "and internal organs" price ranges. Maybe as a business decision, Chord has decided to stick to electronics, where their expertise lies, and leave the messy mechanical bits to someone else.

 

[Anonymous]

Chord make one of the best CD transports though - the blue?

My point about CD players is that the transport system won't matter soon, as the data on a CD can come from a hard drive and if transported as data properly (like the QBD64), the quality of the transport becomes irrelevant.

 

[jockey.wilson]

woollyjoe:

My point about CD players is that the transport system won't matter soon, as the data on a CD can come from a hard drive and if transported as data properly (like the QBD64), the quality of the transport becomes irrelevant.

If you beleive that then I suggest that you listen to a quality dedicated CD transport back to back with 'any other disc spinner' via digital connection to a half decent system.

I was planning to use my (expensive) DVD player as a transport to input into the DAC on my amp. It sounded rubbish, hence I had to fork out for a CD transport as well.

The best DAC in the world can't recover information that is not there in the first place. Garbage in Garbage out...

 

[Anonymous]

jockey.wilson:woollyjoe:
My point about CD players is that the transport system won't matter soon, as the data on a CD can come from a hard drive and if transported as data properly (like the QBD64), the quality of the transport becomes irrelevant.

If you beleive that then I suggest that you listen to a quality dedicated CD transport back to back with 'any other disc spinner' via digital connection to a half decent system.

I was planning to use my (expensive) DVD player as a transport to input into the DAC on my amp. It sounded rubbish, hence I had to fork out for a CD transport as well.

The best DAC in the world can't recover information that is not there in the first place. Garbage in Garbage out...

Not wanting to be difficult here, but the Chord DAC does not "transport" data in the same way as any other DAC. The reason you need a good transport today is because it keeps the data as music data rather than just pure data. I'm not a techie, but hoping maybe the editor of WHF high end guides can be more accuarte in why it doesn't matter what transport you use with a QBD65 over bluetooth.

Best, Joe

 

[Craig M.]

are you talking purely about the bluetooth connection of the qbd76? in which case talking about cd transports is pretty irrelevant. tbh, my understanding of what makes the qbd76 special is the ram buffer and bespoke dac, the way the data gets from transport to dac via spdif is the same as any dac, the chord has no influence on the way the transport sends the data at all. i wonder, from some of your other posts, if you have misunderstood some of what the chord guys told you?

 

[Anonymous]

ok. You're mixing up 2 parts of the post. The bluetooth connection allows the Chord to transport data differently and better so that the source hardware does not matter.

the second part is that as a dac and the accompanying cd transport, is it not good enough to be in the magazine for high end hifi.