I love it when an impulse buy works out.....

[KenW]

In all honesty, I had all but decided to snag an Apogee Mini-Dac for the office setup but was having little luck finding one at a price I could live with. Not sure why, but I began thinking about a piece of gear that had really excited me when it first came out. Just had other things more pressing so I didn't pull the trigger then. This time I just couldn't resist it. Didn't really need it, but darned if I'm not tickled that I have it. Best purchase I've made in quite some time.

I'll get around to listening to my FLAC files sooner or later, but right now, I'm just loving the Internet Radio! What a big ol' world we live in!!

[postjack]

Nice man, congrats!! I've been damn curious about this thing, I'm looking forward to further impressions!

edit: also you are listening to the Dan.

[granodemostasa]

damn that's sweet.

[Iron_Dreamer]

I love the irony of buying something twofold more expensive because you couldn't get a good enough deal Anyway, it's a lot better looking and more useful, so who's to say it wasn't the right decision. I'd still like to get a good listen to one and figure out just where it stacks up as a DAC.

[deepak]

Nice snag

edit: oh yes the internet radio is very nice and easy to navigate.

[KenW]

I love the irony of buying something twofold more expensive because you couldn't get a good enough deal Anyway, it's a lot better looking and more useful, so who's to say it wasn't the right decision. I'd still like to get a good listen to one and figure out just where it stacks up as a DAC.

LOL....the twisted logic of a gear junkie I suppose. Always have been a bit impulsive. Guess that's my cross to bear. The Apogee probably made more sense for an office setup and truth be told, I doubt the Transporter will leave home so I really didn't address my need in that regard. Maybe Justin's new miracle mini will be the answer there? Anyway, your point is well taken and spot on. Still, I'm having a blast with this one and enjoying the "new toy smell". As for the dac, I've not spent much time listening to the FLAC files yet. Still exploring all it can do and the internet programming available.

[KenW]

Nice snag

edit: oh yes the internet radio is very nice and easy to navigate.

Got any favorites that you can turn me on to? I'll have to admit to being a bit overwhelmed at the number of choices out there.

[grawk]

If it'll make you feel better, I'll swap my minidac for your transporter

[KenW]

If it'll make you feel better, I'll swap my minidac for your transporter

Nope...not even if you threw in a smokin' hot girlfriend to sweeten the deal. Well....maybe....nah.

[grawk]

Nope...not even if you threw in a smokin' hot girlfriend to sweeten the deal. Well....maybe....nah.

Done, blonde, brunette, or redhead?

[hYdrociTy]

Looks good on the inside too. Just enough space to upgrade the analog stage with my state of the art design.

[deepak]

Got any favorites that you can turn me on to? I'll have to admit to being a bit overwhelmed at the number of choices out there.

I don't actually have a Squeezebox or Transporter, I've just messed around with them a few times. And the internet radio was one of the coolest things. I wanted to get one just to turn me onto more jazz and classical.

If you haven't checked it out already the Slim Devices forums have loads of info about pretty much everything: http://forums.slimdevices.com/

[PFKMan23]

I can't wait for an Opus 21 vs. Transporter comparison

[Dusty Chalk]

Got any favorites that you can turn me on to? I'll have to admit to being a bit overwhelmed at the number of choices out there.

Dude, Pandora. Take the time to set yourself up a radio station properly: start by picking the most prototypical song you can think of in the style that you want to hear more of. Let's say you want an entire radio station that sounds like Social Distortion's "Ball and Chain" -- you click on "create a new station", enter "Ball and Chain", scroll down 'til you get to the Social Distortion choice, then click it. Voila, you're done.

Well, not quite -- you're well on your way, and if that's all you did, you would probably be pretty happy, but you should do more.

As songs play, click the thumbs-up or thumbs-down icons -- only if you really like or really hate the song (or more accurately, "really think that song is appropriate for this radio station", or "really think it is inappropriate"). Also, while they're playing, if you can think of any other songs of a similar vein, then here's what you do:

Left-click on the down triangle next to "ball and chain radio", and click "add more music to this radio station";

Enter other songs as you did similarly.

Also, if you screw up, you can always left-click->edit, and remove added songs, and songs you've "approved" or "disapproved".

Have fun! Experiment.

Oh, and apparently -- Slim Devices and Pandora have some sort of agreement, and the whole interface is somehow compatible with the transporter. So if you like what you hear, you should look into that. You can approve and disapprove straight from the remote.

[n_maher]

I heart the Transporter but I'm hopeful that a slightly tweaked SB3 + DAC will yield similar performance, although not nearly as sexy looking.

[grawk]

I went the airport express->dac route, but I've tweaked that again, and have a mac mini on the way

[hirsch]

I'd still like to get a good listen to one and figure out just where it stacks up as a DAC.

I tried this, and is almost indistinguishable in A/B testing from the Wadia 301. Very good CPD indeed, although not in the top rank. The Transporter has slightly better low level detail, but it's very difficult to tell the difference at all (one person present couldn't, I think). Incidentally, when we performed a similar test with the Benchmark DAC1, the Wadia kicked Benchmark ass in terms of detail and impact, just since more people have heard the Benchmark as a reference point. By commutative logic, the Transporter DAC should kick Benchmark butt also, but that particular comparison wasn't done directly.

Since the list price on the Wadia was twice the price of the Transporter, I was pleased at that level of performance. The top level of DAC's and players are still going outperform the Transporter. However, you're also going to pay four or five times the $$$. I'm starting to think about using the Transporter as a...well...transport...and hang a serious DAC on it (Meitner keeps coming to mind). Should sound sweet.

[tkam]

I wonder how the Transporter w/ the upcoming Modwright mods will stand up against the higher-end cdp's.

[postjack]

I wonder how the Transporter w/ the upcoming Modwright mods will stand up against the higher-end cdp's.

cool, I didn't know Modwright was doing the transporter, thats a good move on his part.

[ojnihs]

I really want to hear the transporter, as I've always wanted one. I really want to see how much better the transporter sounds than the e-mu 0404 usb that uses the same DAC chip. I'm going to assume as a fact that the other components of the transporter are of better quality, so I'm assuming that there will be a fairly significant difference between the two.

[Iron_Dreamer]

The top level of DAC's and players are still going outperform the Transporter. However, you're also going to pay four or five times the $$$. I'm starting to think about using the Transporter as a...well...transport...and hang a serious DAC on it (Meitner keeps coming to mind). Should sound sweet.

Yeah, that sounds about right. I'm skeptical that one can get top-level source performance for under $5000 (not considering DIY possibilities).

[tkam]

cool, I didn't know Modwright was doing the transporter, thats a good move on his part.

Yep agreed, I sent them an e-mail about the mods and heres the meat of their reply:

Here are the details:

Customer needs to supply the unit ~ $2K, unless you can get a deal.

Our mod price only is $2K and includes the following:

Complete re-design of stock analog stage in Transporter. Volume control in unit is still active, as are all firmware, wireless, Ethernet, SP/DIF, optical ins/outs, etc.

Tube stage features internal power supply, based on design technology from our own preamp designs.

Tube-rectified power supply using 5U4/5V4/5AR4 compatible rectifiers. There will be room to use 5UV/5V4 'G' and 'GB' types, for the 300B look or the straight bottle look. Signal tubes and rectifiers will be mostly exposed and easily accessible from the top. The fuse block will also be external, so there will be no need to open the unit up to change fuses or swap tubes. The exposed tubes will also keep the box cool inside. Heat producing SS devices in the circuit will be heat-sinked to the AL chassis, so the case may run warm, but the temperature inside the box will be kept at a normal opearting temperature.

Tube analog stage featuring balanced outs (differential) to XLR outs and SE outputs to RCA jacks.

Tube analog stage designed around 6CG7/6FQ7/6922/7308/6DJ8/6N1-P tube family. Two tubes are used, but only one triode per channel is used in the circuit. The second triode is not used, allowing for 2x the tube life by simply swapping the tube positions.

The balanced outputs are achieved by custom wound output transformers from Electraprint (Jack Iliiano) - www.elecraprint-audio.com.

Voltage output is approximately 2.5V max, in-line with a typical CD source. This is still plenty of gain to drive most amplifiers to full output level, allowing for the unit to be connected directly to the amplifier. Note: It was designed and voiced, being fed into our LS 36.5 tube linestage.

I expect to schedule the first start date within two weeks from Monday, or by Sept. 10th. Turnaround is expected to be approx. 2-weeks and our scheduling of start dates is intended to insure this.

We require a $500 non-refundable deposit to insure a start date, with the remainder due upon completion of work.