As we move closer to releasing for beta this September the new SACD Transport, there comes again talk of the virtues of playing discs relative to ripping and/or streaming.
Which sounds better?
The plain truth of it is perhaps not what many wish to hear, but from my perspective, I think it's worth saying anyway.
The source shouldn't matter.
Regardless of whether it streams down from the heavens, is pulled kicking and screaming from a hard drive, or coaxed out of the pits and lands of an optical disc, the differences in sound quality inevitably must be tied to isolation, noise, and jitter.
We understand the bits themselves are the same, thus what remains are the aforementioned trio of culprits.
As we built the SACD Transport, we focused our efforts on what our digital mentor, Ted Smith, is also striving for in his latest works: galvanic isolation. The more isolated and insulated from the means of retrieving the digital data the better and cleaner it will sound.
This has proven to be true in the upcoming transport. It remains to be seen if we can manage the same performance in our forthcoming streamer.
Time will tell.
