Hows a DA converter work? Transport? .....

Timothy Reason · « **on:** 10 Feb 2005, 08:05 pm »

Hi all! Well while getting deeper and deeper into this hobby, new things arise every now and again. I am happy with my system, but am looking for a warmer and more depth sound. I think my problem lies in my DVD/CD player as its just a super budget $59.00 player I bought a few years ago before getting into this hobby. However while I was looking for solutions to replacing the signal source(DVD/CD player) I have found some new terms I am not familiar with.

One being the DA Converter, which sounds like you hook up to a digital source, but what does it do to the sound?

Second is a Transport. Again what is entailed here, and what does it do to sound?

Just wondering how these work and compare to just a plain CD and or DVD player?

My system is as follows....
Yamaha RX-V2300 Reciever
Axiom M22ti's Front
Axiom QS8's Suround
Axiom VP-150 Center
VMPS Sub
Rotel 980BX bridged to sub
Toshiba SD-1810 DVD player

Again looking to add warmth and depth to my sound...

PhilNYC · « **Reply #1 on:** 10 Feb 2005, 08:19 pm »

Tim,

A transport basically reads the data off a CD. It then sends that data to a DAC which converts the digital data into an analog audio signal.

Every CDP consists of a transport and a DAC, whether it be one box or two (or sometimes even three!). The advantage of using a separate transport and DAC box comes primarily from being able to separate the power supplies for each unit/function...a transport has very different power needs than a DAC, so separating them makes each more efficient for their specific task. Also, some people claim that a digital signal is more susceptable to RF/EMI and other electrical noise, making it even more compelling to separate a power supply and circuitry away from the digital signal path as much as possible.

The downside of using separate transport and DAC is that the interface (SPDIF) is not very good, and the implementation of SPDIF in many commercial products is even worse...so you can get possibly poor performance from inadaquate SPDIF implementation...

Timothy Reason · « **Reply #2 on:** 10 Feb 2005, 09:21 pm »

Ok so what you are saying is its up to preference? Sounds like problems lie in each set-up. I guess I should say then, what can I do to add depth and warmth to my system? I have done a quick search for possible mods I could do to my Yamaha Reciever, but have not found anything, So without a HUGE revemp of my system it seemed the Player source was my best bet. With say $300 bottom end and $600 top end with a little time, what should I do to upgrade myself from where I am at now? I would say the setup is still 70% HT and 30% music, But its the music where I see the problem with my system.

JoshK · « **Reply #3 on:** 10 Feb 2005, 09:39 pm »

Timothy,

First a question, how do you hookup the DVD player to the Receiver for music playback? Via a digital cable or analog cables? I would suggest you try out both ways and compare the sound.

Without know the above it would be impossible to guess what your best course of action would be. However, the source isn't necessarily your problem, it is kind of tough in these situations to hazard a guess as to what the bottleneck is but when I see metal dome tweeters and yammy receiver, warmth doesn't come to mind. I don't think there is anything I could do to the source to overcome that either. Depth is quite often acheived with positioning of speakers more than component upgrade.

just my $.02,
Josh

Timothy Reason · « **Reply #4 on:** 10 Feb 2005, 10:23 pm »

The DVD player is hooked up via Composite cables (Belden/Canare) wire for video and Glass Toslink for sound.

JoshK · « **Reply #5 on:** 10 Feb 2005, 11:34 pm »

Glass toslink = optical digital cable. That means you are using the DVD player as the transport and your Yammy for DAC and preamp functions. You may try hooking up the DVD player with a set of RCA analog cables (audio) from the DVD player to the Yammy and see if you like that sound better, you may or may not. Its cheap to try!

Timothy Reason · « **Reply #6 on:** 11 Feb 2005, 12:18 am »

If thats the case, would I be better off to purchase a DA converter then? If so what is a good inexpensive used piece? I just saw a Rotel 980 DA Converter for $200???? Any opinions?