Knightshade said:
Hi All,
I'm looking at a sensibly priced CDP/Transport. What, in the sub £1500 market, has the lowest Jitter rate? It will be used solely as a CD transport but if there is a DVD player that will do the job just as well?
I'm not worried about the quality of the on board DAC's but it must have a COAX/BNC Digital output. Short and uncluttered signal path would be good. Front loader as well. Build quality is important.
Don't want much do I?
Knightshade
Being the very happy owner of a DVD-V based CD transport Ive long felt the importance of the DAC is more a concern ie its ability to deal with jitter, thus getting decent reclocker designs Ive been lucky not be be afflicted with the jitter concerns that litter [no pun] this hobby, I guess Im very lucky in that respect, but If I was to select a few DVD-V based transports the one that fits your criteria perfectly is the Theta Carmen (available second hand for £1-1500) has BNC & XLR/AES, Another DVD-V based transport with RCA/XLR-AES is Classes DVD-1 IIRC, but there is a Universal spec player about now that offers :
SACD/DVD Audio/DVD-Video and can be used as a high-end CD transport via its XLR/AES Digital output, I refer of course to the new Primare DVD-30. RRP £2000
http://www.primare.net/swwwing/app/cm/Browse.jsp?PAGE=19763&PARENT=1072 DVD-30 Primare
http://www.playhaus.co.uk/bargains.html One going cheap @ £1450 with 2 year warranty
Now to my mind this player covers everything, Hi-res formats and for use (for concerned jitterophiles) as CD transport the XLR/AES output.
Of course you could chill out and get a Toshiba SD-900 or 2500 and use a RCA-BNC cable, these players have vanishly low amounts of jitter in transport terms. As I said Ive been more than happy with my old Pioneer DVD-V player used into a couple of DACs, my inability to guage digital/analg cable differences has made me even more sceptical about jitter effects, the DAC either works or it does not IME, if jitter is so bad the DAC will not lock onto the signal. There is a moving momentum towards £500 Universal DVD-V players and decent DACs like the one you own already, Im not that fully convinced that the concerns of jitter in DAC terms is as bad as made out by some audiophiles. As Ive said before audiophiles concerned with such worries IMPE usually go to the FEOAF with : cables, supports, mains isolation and other snake oil cures but are they truly satisified at the end of the day ?
Connection wise there is a rub of course, because one set of Audiophiles namely DAC 64 users love Toslink, others wear XLR/AES is the best, then BNC squad bring up the rear claiming its sent from god. Of course YMMV in each of these respects, but call me old fashioned RCA SPDIF works fine for me, dare I say it with stunning results to my ears.
ATB and I hope Ive given you some food for thought.